Presidential Thoughts...Looks Do Matter

Q. What determines who gets elected to run a country?

A. The person that for most people embodies "this is what our President should look like."

To put it bluntly, Obama is U.S. president because the majority of voters thought he looked like what our president should be, at least compared to McCain. And in Venezuela, Chavez looks like what a significant group of people think their president should look like.

In the U.S., unattractive people don't get elected. At least that's true since Abe Lincoln left office. And Hugo Chavez, Venezuela's president, was a lot better looking when he ran for office the first time, and when he tried to take over the country by force back in 1992.

To succeed as a revolutionary, you gotta look the part. Being tall and handsome and looking good in military green certainly helped Fidel Castro. And if Che had lived to a ripe old age, gotten fat, or lost the hat, I don't think we'd be seeing his image in contemporary leftist chic contexts.

(BTW, I took that picture of Che painted on a wall in Caracas.)

To be first lady in France you have to look like a model, or better yet, be one.

It's the same in every field. Bankers look like bankers, not like grafitti artists. Well, I guess some of them look really like con artists, but they're a minority.

Miranda met a newsreporter for the first time last week; she informed me that, "he looked exactly like what she thought a reporter would look like."

Tenured professors tend to steer clear of fashion, might look too superficial.

Look around you and you'll notice that everyone pretty much dresses for their part at work. That's normal.

The scoop is this. If you want to have a different job, (or a job,) a different position, a different level of life, you might need to reassess the way you present yourself to the world. Nobody is going to take the time to see what you're really like inside.

Mindset vitamin: I put myself out there looking like the person I want to be.

Happy Prez Day.

What Your Outfit Says About You

One of the things students learn in the study of communication is that everything communicates. In other words, you cannot not communicate. It's in your facial expression, your hairdo, jewelry, posture, pose, the words you say, of course, and those you don't day, and in what you're wearing.

Generally speaking, when you put some effort into looking nice, you're sending a positive message to the world. Your message is that you care about yourself, but you also care about the rest of the world. There are no fixed rules about this, like wearing foundation says you care, wearing only chapstick indicates you're a lazy slob. Looking slobbish can mean you're highly distracted with a brilliant project, and that message will come across, too, through other channels.

If you really want to make a positive impression on others, style-mentor Tim Gunn says the way clothes fit is the key. It is wrong-o to think that tight clothes make you look slim, likewise with tent clothes. Too tight and too loose both indicate you are not comfortable with yourself. And if this is true, Mixonian suggests you fake it with correctly-fitting clothes and soon you will actually begin to feel better.

Dressing inappropriately for the occasion won't be noticed by everyone, but a few people will certainly be impressed, though not necessarily in a good way. In a way, dressing appropriately is like buying advertising, it only works half the time but you never know which half.

Sending the message that you are an intelligent, imaginative, caring, and capable person is not about fashion, unless you work in the fashion industry. It's about finding your style, maybe even your own sort of uniform. Dressing well does not mean having closets full of clothes. The opposite may be true. People who have less closet space are forced to make better buying decisions about their clothes. Find the clothes in which you feel most comfortable, and make sure they fit. The warm-up suit is only for exercise!