Clothes speak volumes

HAMBURG: "Clothes maketh the man" - goes the old adage, and it's still valid the world over. Many people believe clothing choices will say much about character as well as social ties.

The cut and color of a person's outfit not only reveals what he or she was thinking about when dressing in the morning. They also illustrate the amount of effort which went into choosing the garments. Many a color, fabric or combination can also reinforce time-honored prejudices.

People tend to adopt some kind of uniform in daily life, usually because they are trying to fit in with certain surroundings or show their allegiance to a particular group, says German image consultant Beatrix Isabel Lied.

This means that people use clothing to send signals to those around them: The wearer of a black polo-neck sweater is inevitably an artist, an intellectual or an architect. Outdoor and nature-loving types tend to opt for sensible weatherproof jackets and trekking sandals instead.

French authors Catherine Joubert and Sarah Stern have written a whole book about such types, with their insights relying heavily on the work of Sigmund Freud.

Joubert and Stern believe there's no need for men to mentally analyze a new party acquaintance or female colleague. A woman's outfit speaks loudly enough, assuming the observer understands the language. "Clothing is an expression of taste - and that can be an expression of attitude," Lied says.

According to style advisor Lisa Zimmermann from Berlin, there is nothing superficial about judging people by the clothes they wear.

"We're talking here about the famous first 10 seconds which is all it takes to make an impression," she says.

"Remarkably few people give serious thought to the effect of the colors they wear," the psychologist says. "Whether consciously or unconsciously, they choose a shade which they believe suits them and the situation in which they find themselves."

Before selecting an outfit it is as well to be aware of the effects which different colors can produce. Black, for instance, has a powerful aura. "It signals aloofness and a sense of being something special," Zimmermann says.

People who want to stand out in a crowd tend to choose black clothing. The color also stands for concentration and minimalism. "Black is a kind of anti-color and allows people to keep their options open," professor Gisla Gniech, from Bremen, says.

Blue, the color of the sky, is seen as being much more open than black, the so-called "color of power," Zimmermann says.

Gniech believes that blue stands for pragmatism and intellect. The list of colors and their alleged psychological ramifications is a long one - red clothing gets the wearer noticed and can indicate an extrovert or even eccentric character. Yellow stands for cheerfulness and optimism while pink is naturally the most romantic of colors.

Experts say it is important to be aware of the meanings of particular hues, which can vary a lot between different cultures, and to keep these in mind. Not every item of clothing is appropriate to a particular situation yet most people select what they wear with little conscious thought.

"The whole thing has much more to do with a person's habits and inborn feeling for what clothes go well with each other", Gniech says. At the same time, the decision not to wear a particular garment is generally intuitive.

"The dress may be a great fit and flatter the figure but if you do not feel comfortable with a certain outfit you probably never will," she says.

"People who plump for the wrong colors tend to have simply no feeling for them at all," Zimmermann says. "Of course such choices may represent a personal protest against accepted dress conventions."

It seems some people are just determined to get noticed.

DPA

(China Daily 03/04/2008 page19)