The clothes we wear have power not only over others, but also over ourselves.

– Adam Galinsky
Professor at Kellogg School of Management
Northwestern University

For the last few weeks of being M.I.A, I have been settling into my first office. This is a serious step in my career. I am analyzing everything about this new chapter in my life down to what I wear. Even though “dress for success” is not a new concept, I have been researching what it means for me. Google searched articles advise professional women to wear closed toed shoes, pant suites, and to avoid overly decorative feminine adornments. Greys, blacks, and navies are the suggested color palette. All these helpful tips make a straight jacket sound exciting because at least it would be unexpected. To be fairthere were a couple of articles that advised women to dress traditional but add personality with shoes, belts, and jewelry. Men are supposed to use subtle pattern mixes with their ties, suites, and shirts.

Since I am a graphic designer and photographer I have been lucky to have creative leeway in how I dress. Now however as an independent contractor I am meeting with business owners outside the marketing and creative world. I wonder if my playful and colorful aesthetic sense discredits my ability to create appropriate and strategic designs.

New York Time’s Mind Games: Sometimes a White Coat Isn’t Just a White Coat article discusses not only the affects our clothes have on others but also the affects they have on us. Women who wear more masculine clothes in interviews are seen as more intelligent and competent and as a result are more likely to get hired. Research from Professors Hajo Adam and Adam Galinsky of Northwestern University discovered that what we wear affects our cognitive process. This phenomenon scientists refer to as enclothed cognition. Adam and Galinsky learned when people wear a doctor white lab coats, their attention span increases sharply. In one of their studies participants wore the white lab coat, half were told the coats were doctor coats and the others were told the coats were painter coats.  They were then given a test on selective attention based on their ability to recognize incongruities  such as the word red in the color green. Those who thought they were wearing doctor coats made 50% less errors than those who thought they were wearing painter coats.

If clothes have the ability to affect how I perform and performance is most important, I have concluded I should wear clothes that I associate with the traits I want. People might associate conservative and traditional dress with competence and intelligence, but I see it as a uniform and uniforms are for following and conforming. I want to be successful and that means I need to focus on being an individual, an independent, a leader, a creative, a risk taker, experimental, aesthetically versed, and resourceful. My thrift store style is my way of practicing all these traits.

My 70s Ka-Po-wer Suit

Vintage stripped 80s blouse: Cabrais, thrift store, $2.50
Blouse bow: borrowed from another blouse, thrift store, $3
Vintage 70s polyester rust pants: no label, thrift store, $3.50-$5.00
Velvet heels: Sam & Libby, thrift store, $6

Photographs by Marcus Pierce