Hip ain’t Lazy. What your clothes might be saying…
Loose summer clothes with fanny packs only belong in Rishikesh.
Chinos with florals?! What is this — Schitt’s creek?!
Double Monk strap Derbys aren’t just for board meetings.
Perception drives the reality.
We don’t dress as we see fit.
We dress to be the person we want the world to think we are.
No, not all of us spend hours in front of a closet wondering if brown will send subliminal messages of affirmations to our boss’s boss, or if blue will make our hazel nut eyes seem more sincere and innocent.
No, we don’t hop from closet to walk in closet, comparing the Drab Mauve from the Muddy one. (What…?!)
But there are other subtleties in fashion that we follow, without any given conscious thought, keeping in mind the “judgements” warranted by the occasion and facilitated by the people we’re heading out to meet.
Suede boots for a black tie! (*gasps in horror*)
You dress up in a Hardrock Café print t-shirt, for an investor meet. You might be Mr. Zuckerberg and you’ll still be refused funding.
Why??
Because perception drives the reality.
Whatever you wear is a stark reflection of who you are on the inside. You might be playing FreeCell on your office computer while wearing polished Oxfords and Devore’s personal collection, you’ll still get promoted over the “stupid kid” in the bean chair wearing a red headphone and grey hoodie that could belong to his 150 kg uncle, in light green crocs, writing 10 viral-potential articles in 50 minutes.
Why??
Because perception drives the reality.
Who would you take out on a date? The guy in ocean blue shirt and a tika on his forehead, or the “cool dude” with tattoos on every surface of his body? And then, out of these, who would you marry?
What we wear isn’t a true reflection of who we are. But it is perceived as such.
We need to understand that the real world is very different from how we believe it to be.
The “stupid kid” smoking in the corner might just be the next Elon Musk.
The “cool dude” with girls all around him might just be a math geek.
The “shareef ladka” wearing beige Brogues might be a serial killer.
The guy wearing a fur coat and monkey cap at 40°C might just be a vampire.
(Okay, that’s a little presumptuous. All hail Meyer.)
So let’s break these stereotypes and understand.
There is a whole world inside those floral prints and Oxford shoes. There might be an accountant in those crocs. There might be a street artist in that 3-piece suit.
There might be a CEO in preppy Loafers, and a couch potato in Hiking Boots.
Point is, perception might drive the reality. But you have a choice whether you want Perception to drive You.
