Darla Gehres wrote:
> my question to you is this, why do you feel wearing a business suit is a
> costume? Do your perceive yourself as a "business person" just because of
> your outfit? Wearing clothes for different reasons should not change the
> inner person, but I see that you feel it is influential to the conformity
> of being similar in thought. I don't feel that way.
Dear all
For me clothes are symbols and they communicate both internally (to me)
and to others. People respond to those signals. Of course there are
many other signals that I send. They may support the signals my clothes
are sending or they may contradict them. If a "hooker" dresses like one
but uses the body language of a nun, she either has a very narrow market
segment or has a problem.
[Host's Note: Hmm... Could we shift towards examples in a different line
of business? ...Rick]
I also experience myself playing different roles and using my clothes to
reenforce those roles both for myself and for others. I am a trainer
and I use different kinds of clothing to communicate different things to
the groups I work with. Imagine showing up in a white three piece suit
to demonstrate how to dismantle an engine or in greasy overall to teach
financial management to boards of directors of multinational companies.
I am most aware of this when I show up dressed the "wrong" way at an
event. When we lived in Brussels the church I went to dressed very
informally, jeans and sweaters. My son was invited to perform at an
event at another church. I went along to watch. All of the men were
dressed in business suits except me. My inner person was not damaged
but I was embarrassed, as was my son. The people I interacted with
seemed to feel ackward. As far as I know the only difference was the
clothes.
Jon C. Jenkins
Imaginal Training
Groningen, The Netherlands
--"Jon C. Jenkins" <imaginal@wxs.nl>
Learning-org -- Hosted by Rick Karash <rkarash@karash.com> Public Dialog on Learning Organizations -- <http://www.learning-org.com>