If you want to be a big-ideas person at work, suit up. A paper in August 2015 in Social Psychological and Personality Science asked subjects to change into formal or casual clothing before cognitive tests. Wearing formal business attire increased abstract thinking—an important aspect of creativity and long-term strategizing.
(From Scientific American)
So here you have it from the mouth of scientists, modern sloppy "casual" way of dressing decreases abstract thinking and destroys creativity, while dressing in formal attire produces "the feeling of power". There is a reason dress codes exist in business and finance and legal profession.
Now what does it do to a woman's self-esteem to constantly wear what was traditionally considered male attire and could at best be described as unisex clothing? Or for an adult man, husband and father to wear baggy shorts with flip-flops on a daily basis? Or for a housewife to spend her whole day in pajamas?
Dress for success, not for failure!
An average American 1950s family doing shopping:
An average American 2016 family doing shopping...
Well, never mind!
Oh well :-)
ReplyDeleteSlightly off-topic, but I think this blogpost is worth reading
https://theladyslife.com/2015/02/17/living-like-a-bride-every-day/
The other day as we approached the Walmart door way at least 20 people from a tour buss went in too. They all had back packs and cameras and spoke another language. Going to Walmart to sight see? After having seen some of the 'sights' seen in the Walmart u-tube myself in was horrified wondering what people would look like in the store that day! I had to sit and wait and so looked around for at least 10 minutes at all the people gong by. To my entire amazement I did not see any of the usual incredibly odd and scandalous outfits. The people looked and seemed polite too! I wondered if I was in the Twilight Zone! I also saw the tourists using their cameras and shopping all around the store that day. I wondered if Walmart is now part of a tour of our country. I hope not!!
ReplyDeleteIt was a time years back when I sat and looked around seeing how sloppy everyone seemed while out I realized I too needed to step up and dress better. I did try to look neat and such but could do better. Since then I have tried to remember how we used to be always when out....or for that matter even in our neighborhood and take a bit more time to dress appropriately. I will admit it makes me feel better too. It used to be usual for all of us to think of how we represented ourselves. We took pride in our family name,towns honor and all let alone we represented God to the world and wanted to present the best positive example to the rest of the world. Now though...... :( Sarah
Thanks, Miriam, that was very interesting!
ReplyDeleteSarah, yes, dressing better makes one feel better and now the science proves it, too:)
ReplyDeleteI have been watching Call the Midwife. It is interesting, that in the late 50's, early 60's in Poplar, which was very poor part of London, most married women stayed at home and they were "put together", when it comes to their attires. Now of course Call the Midwife is half fiction, but BBC is usually very accurate when it comes to costumes and such.
ReplyDeleteIn one episode, doctor went camping with his family and when they were leaving, people tried not to laugh when they saw him in shorts. And this is how they looked in the tent:
http://www.radiotimes.com/uploads/images/original/100845.jpg?maxwidth=620&quality=60
Have I told this earlier? Hope not.
So people used to be perfectly able to go camping or exercise in decent clothes. Indian people were perfectly able to do yoga in pretty clothes, but westerners need to be half-naked, half-spandex and totally gross.
http://seattleyoganews.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/yoga-in-india-yoga-in-america1.jpg
Housewife, and when watching this type of shows we are supposed to gasp in horror at how "oppressive" those times were. Imagine, people were expected to look decent and presentable all the time, not only during the weddings!
ReplyDeleteFunny about yoga:)
BTW, in the Bible the demon-possessed individuals were described as tearing away their clothes and running around naked or very close to it. Something to think about...
ReplyDeleteThey don't call them WalMartians for nothing... :)
ReplyDelete