“Dress-up for the job you want, not for the job you have.” – Sam Ramsey

Who would have thought have thought that a basic human need could possess such power behind it? It is true to say that you get addressed by the way you dress. As unfair as the statement may be, the truth of the matter is that people have a perception of the way we dress counts. We should wear certain clothes for church, work, parties, even going to the mall – we must slay they say!

If clothes and all accessories that we put on could speak, I’m sure they will speak a colourful language. A language of complement that does not undermine that, does not talk down to another because that’s what dressing up is all about and dressing down would not exist in our minds as people. Advice is that if you are not feeling good about yourself, dress-up!

Each of us knows the feeling of putting on that special piece of clothing which is transmissible all the way to our emotions – we feel happy and good about ourselves. For women, you notice a catwalk “It Girl!” – a walk of confidence – give them a compliment, you’ve made their day  – confidence moves to the next level. Elements of intimidation and jealousy are also felt by the low self-esteem people who always look for something negative to utter. For men, the difference is not much – remember men dress up for different reasons – to look powerful, successful, driven, and to look good – tell him that he has cleaned up well – ego shoots up and sirens go off. I’m joking. A gentleman takes a compliment with humility and class.

Three reasons for Dressing-UP!

Brand Development

It is of vital importance to know the brand that you are and market it well. By owning it and being unapologetic people start buying into it and people love to be associated with positive people and positive brands. At this stage, your reputation is at stake, therefore, your actions and your words need to be congruent.

Boost Self-Confidence Account

Self-Confidence has become a commodity that if you don’t have enough of it you get run over. I cannot stress how much you need to invest in your self-confidence account and that is the investment you will thank yourself for in future. The Self-Confidence Account has a simple principle, you receive dividends in proportion to what you gave in. The more you work on it day-in-day-out the more your self-confidence account grow otherwise your investments decline.

You Love It…

I have not in my entire life met someone who does not love dressing up. People can utter words that they do not like dressing up but I have discovered that the only reason they say that is because they have not done it before or even if they did it, it was a fail. Between you and I, there is a lot of love in looking good, at a young age when parents bought us those new clothes it mattered not how they looked but we loved wearing them and were convinced that we looked the best. That’s the essence of loving something it does not matter what other people may say or think about it – all that matters is that you are rocking and your confidence at that time is sky high.

Your reasons for picking up a piece of clothing and wearing any accessory may differ but it is a given that you give your best when it comes to what you wear. You may look yourself in the mirror and give a mirror a smile or you can make the world your mirror – as long as you have your reasons intact, the opinions and ideas of the outside stay where they are.

Looking good and feeling good is what we want for ourselves. That brings happiness to some people or identity to others. As long as your grounded you may never know what the world says about you sometimes you just need to suit-up and show up.

Just look at what you are wearing right now – I think it is… It does not matter what I am thinking what matter is what you are thinking and feeling. Be yourself and represent yourself everywhere you go.

Written by Mduduzi Mthanti