It’s a truth universally known that your personal style reflects what you stand for. What you wear and how you carry yourself gives people around you an idea of your personality. Dressing up is even known to boost your confidence and make you feel good about yourself.
Q. Does what you wear really affect how you see yourself?
Research has been done to prove that the way we dress affects the way we think and behave. For example, as most of us working from home these days, try this experiment: one day you go about your daily routine and work wearing pyjamas and a not-so-well-fitted tee or something very casual. Next day, do all that wearing a well-ironed and well-groomed outfit with a small collar, maybe a mandarin collar too; you don’t need to dress up in a matched suit. Then check your productivity level and you will notice you are doing your work more efficiently and in a more focussed way, and you will finish 8 hours of work in less than 6 hours. I have done this exercise myself and especially during the lockdown when struggling with poor mental health, by simply dressing up and practicing basic grooming, you can improve your mental health and enhance the way you feel about yourself. It helps build a positive self-image.
Q. How to dress a petite, pear-shaped body? What can I wear to look tall and show off my curves?
First of all, I don’t compare body shapes with fruits, I compare them with geometrical shapes, so a pear shape would be a triangular body shape, where the shoulders are narrower than the hips. So, we will try to balance them by creating an illusion of broader shoulders or narrower hips which can be done by bringing attention towards your face, wearing shoulder pads, some embellishments on the neck or shoulders, wearing darker colours on the bottom and lighter on top. To look taller, you can acquire monochromatic outfits, which are outfits with garment pieces of the same colour family to create the illusion of height, matching your footwear to your trousers will also give your legs an elongated look.
Q. Could you please share some tips on how I can give myself a sleeker look?
The best way to flatter your body would be to avoid contrast in the areas you want to camouflage and highlight the areas you want to flaunt. Adopt angular necklines like v-neck instead of round necklines, and even while picking accessories, look for longer and angular earrings. Adopt medium-weight fabrics, A-line and semi-fitted clothes, with design details around the neck to bring focus towards your face. Also, you can adopt design details around the centre-front and borders if wearing a saree. In western wear, adopt again semi-fitted clothes, tops and bottoms in the same colour family if you want a slimmer look, can take a medium-weight jacket to get that slimmer effect too, light shoulder pads and firm flat-fronted pants in medium to heavy fabrics if looking for workwear.
Q. How do you dress for the job you want with the paycheck that you have?
As the saying goes, dress for your dream job as that will take you closer to your goals, since the way we dress affects the way we think, which affects the way you act and the way others react as well. So, if you are dressed for the job you want, there is a better chance of you being more focussed towards your work which will be visible and you will be rewarded. Also, you don’t need a handsome paycheck to dress up.
Q. In your experience does power-dressing really help?
Power-dressing definitely helps if you are in a work environment where you need to show authority, it depends on where you are heading to and who you are meeting.
What’s your biggest concern when it comes to styling? Please share it with us in the comments below.