Do Clothes Make the Man?

There was a movie called “Boiler Room” that starred a bunch of talented actors, some put in performances of their lives. Ben Affleck has a cameo. In one scene, he scolds the lower producing sales people. One thing he advises the staff is to get a real suit. Even though they work on phones, he tells them that how they dress will affect how they talk and sell.

The new sales people get suits and act like they are big sellers. For the movie, it works. The owners of the stock selling company know how to work the staff. They hire young people that need a career, they tell them to act like professionals and turn them into sales people. The twist is that they are selling bad stocks. They feel like winners when in reality they are patsies for a fraud.

They dressed like winners and believed they were.

Billy Crystal had a character while on Saturday Night Live named Fernando. Today that character would be seen as culturally insensitive. At the time, people loved that character and everyone tried to do an impression of him. His big catchphrase was “you look mahvelous.” He even did a novelty song that had the line, “it’s not how you feel darling, it’s how you look and you look mahvelous.”

Business school teachers tell students “first impressions last.” They advise dressing well and that may work better than words.

Dress to impress is a real thing.