We’ve talked before about how style affects your mood, but did you know it can actually have a positive (or negative) impact on your self-esteem and levels of confidence? Self-esteem is defined as “your overall sense of self-worth”, or in general how you feel about yourself. Lots of things contribute (to self-esteem), but did you know that your personal style has a part to play?
If you were to ask yourself “Who am I and how would I like to show up in the world?”; somewhere along the line, you will realise that your personal style is involved since it reflects who you are, and communicates to others how you feel about yourself. So how exactly does style affect your self-esteem?
The Power of Choice
The great thing about personal style is you choose what you want people see or know about you. In portraying self-confidence, you can use the things that are strongest or what you feel the most confident about. Every time before stepping out, you get to say what you want to portray and that in itself builds confidence. It also allows you to trust your choices in what’s best for your body and your mind. Once the great style choices become habits, so too will how you feel about yourself in general.
Change Your Clothes, Change Your Life
We’ve all heard about dressing for the job you want and not the one you have, well this is almost the same concept. It doesn’t mean changing yourself but simply, what you wear. If you’ve always worn clothes that do not fit your body type/ shape, or colours that don’t go well with your complexion, your levels of comfort and confidence diminish. However, have you ever worn an outfit and that is immaculately made and you just feel complete? Finding styles, colours, clothing shapes and even textures just enhance what already exists naturally, so it improves your attitude towards getting things done. Now imagine putting this into practice every day, and learning what works for you. Wearing what works for you opens up to a whole new world, basically a whole new you. Simply put, changing your clothes, can change your life.
Look Good, Feel Great
When you look frumpy, you tend to feel frumpy too. So, when you put effort into your appearance, you not only look good but you feel good about yourself. It reminds you that you can control how you feel about yourself, and just how empowering it is to look and feel great.
Have you ever seen someone command a room simply from the confidence they exude and by what they’re wearing? Dressing well is often synonymous with being powerful because when you look good and feel great, it shows. Once you feel empowered and see yourself as powerful, it also builds your confidence, so ensure what you put on your body makes you feel great.
Your Personal Brand
Every individual represents his/her personal brand. Therefore, what you wear and how you present yourself is one aspect of your brand. When you think of a brand, what do you think about? - The colours, logos, people that represent it, what it stands for, a motto, a mission, a vision etcetera. So, who you are and what you would like to project, can be seen in what you wear. And what you wear, can say exactly how you feel about yourself, and in this case, that’s confident. You’ll always feel your best when dressed in a way that expresses your authentic self. Once you’ve minted your brand as one that is confident, you will always reflect that in what you wear.
Do you see the link between your style and self-esteem and are you going to dress to be your most confident self?
