You change style when you trade up jeans and t-shirts for the suits, skirts, and slacks that dominate offices. It’s a stylistic move that signals you’re joining the adult world. The transition from off-the-rack to bespoke clothing, however, is more than just a shift in style. If done right, it can mean a transformation in everything from comfort to how others see you.
Comfort
Off-the-rack clothes are made at pre-defined size increments. This makes them convenient and less expensive. It also means that most people are wearing clothes that don’t fit them properly. In addition to standard discomfort, something like an ill-fitting shoe can actually do you physical harm. While not every department store shoe will hurt you, shoes from a site like bebespoke.co are highly likely to be your most comfortable and healthy footwear.
Clothes that hang too loosely or are too tight can also make you look uncomfortable. Your discomfort expresses itself through tension in your posture. Fitted or custom clothing, however, keeps you comfortable. You look relaxed, which helps other people see you as relaxed and maybe more approachable, which can be beneficial in a lot of situations.
Confidence
Here’s something you might not have heard of before: enclothed cognition. In essence, it holds that the right clothes can actually improve your confidence. So, the next time someone asks you why you would pay extra for your tailored shirt, custom skirts, or custom men’s shoes, you can say it’s for the enclothed cognition.
As an added bonus, enclothed cognition can actually improve your work performance. Wearing the right kind of clothes primes your brain for doing certain kinds of work. When a scientist puts on a lab coat and goggles, it preps their brain to run experiments. When you put on a tailored suit or skirt, it preps your brain for doing abstract business work.
How Other’s View You
When you see someone who is well-dressed and well-groomed, you probably find yourself thinking nice things about them. You might think something like, “I bet that person is competent and organized.” the interesting part is that this happens before you even speak to them. It’s a process called thin-slicing.
The brain processes a lot of information, most of which never cracks into our conscious stream of thoughts. Instead, we get visceral impressions, intuitions, or gut reactions to things and people. Tailored clothes send a myriad of micro-signals that improve people’s intuitive response to you.
Switching over to better clothing is a subtle, but very real, change in your overall style. Your clothes fit better, so you look better. It also signals an improvement in your comfort level and can trigger more confidence. Fitted clothing also sends an array of micro-signals that lead other people to see you in more positive terms.
