Please consider writing up a (discussion) post on your experiences. It sounds fascinating. I personally would be particularly interested in changes in how the less fashion conscious reacted to you.
To quickly answer that, people definitely noticed when I started dressing better, and I received many positive remarks and a few negative.
Some of the more telling comments:
A friend: “Nice shirt… you know, I try not to judge, and that’s why I hung out with you, but you’re really looking better after your fashion project.” To me, this hints that I was being judged (for years?) by this person, even though they’re my friend.
A family member: “Those are really nice boots, where can I get those? They’re almost work boots… though far too nice to be wearing out here in the woods! And those jeans.. be careful, that shade of denim can bleed onto white shirts like that, trust me, I know all about fabric.” This is from my Aunt, who creates many bespoke shirts for her family, and has worked in craft stores for decades. Tellingly, it was just Levi’s and Doc Martens (both classics), with the proper colors and fit.
My boss: “You know, when I first I saw you, I thought to myself, ‘I hired that?!’ But you really cleaned up well.” I had a phone interview for the position. This says to me it’s very likely I would not have been hired due to looks alone, but that I had improved to hireability, allowing them to justify the action.
My brother asked me for advice, though he realized my ‘transferred wisdom’ method of learning, and asked ‘How would your fashion forum people judge this look?’ instead of asking for my personal judgment.
A negative remark I received was that I seemed to be dressing more like a person in a TV show, with the suggestion that I was exceeding my current reference class and conforming too much with the popular view.
Please consider writing up a (discussion) post on your experiences. It sounds fascinating. I personally would be particularly interested in changes in how the less fashion conscious reacted to you.
To quickly answer that, people definitely noticed when I started dressing better, and I received many positive remarks and a few negative.
Some of the more telling comments:
A friend: “Nice shirt… you know, I try not to judge, and that’s why I hung out with you, but you’re really looking better after your fashion project.” To me, this hints that I was being judged (for years?) by this person, even though they’re my friend.
A family member: “Those are really nice boots, where can I get those? They’re almost work boots… though far too nice to be wearing out here in the woods! And those jeans.. be careful, that shade of denim can bleed onto white shirts like that, trust me, I know all about fabric.” This is from my Aunt, who creates many bespoke shirts for her family, and has worked in craft stores for decades. Tellingly, it was just Levi’s and Doc Martens (both classics), with the proper colors and fit.
My boss: “You know, when I first I saw you, I thought to myself, ‘I hired that?!’ But you really cleaned up well.” I had a phone interview for the position. This says to me it’s very likely I would not have been hired due to looks alone, but that I had improved to hireability, allowing them to justify the action.
My brother asked me for advice, though he realized my ‘transferred wisdom’ method of learning, and asked ‘How would your fashion forum people judge this look?’ instead of asking for my personal judgment.
A negative remark I received was that I seemed to be dressing more like a person in a TV show, with the suggestion that I was exceeding my current reference class and conforming too much with the popular view.
What fashion forums have you used?
styleforum.net primarily (male focus), and many sites linked from there.
Thanks :)
I would really really like to see a discussion/top level post about your experience and advice on this topic.