Is Looking Good the Same as Being Good-Looking?

Being good-looking might come down to luck, genes, or whatever beauty standard is trending right now. Long hair, short hair, coloured armpit hair, man bun… we have seen it all. But looking good? That is all you, boo.

Research in psychology shows that people who invest in their appearance are often seen as more competent, likeable, and trustworthy. In fact, sociologists Jaclyn Wong and Andrew Penner analyzed data from over 14,000 individuals and found that well-groomed people earned significantly more than their less polished counterparts. Their conclusion? It wasn't about natural attractiveness; it was about the effort.

Translation: putting in the effort is not vanity, it is strategy.

Looking good starts with taking care of your health. A healthy body, skin that looks like it drinks 3 liters of water a day, fresh hair, manicured nails. My body, my temple, right?

These are acts of self-care, but they double as social signals. They are often the first things people notice when forming an impression. And when I say "first things," I mean instantly. Princeton researchers Janine Willis and Alexander Todorov discovered that it takes just one-tenth of a second (100 milliseconds) for people to make snap judgements about our competence and trustworthiness based on our faces.

Most of us dress intuitively, but what we put on is one of the strongest drivers of those first impressions. We instantly read who someone is when they are wearing a uniform. A pilot, a doctor, a nurse. We know exactly what to expect.

But the uniform doesn't just tell others who we are, it makes us feel and act a certain way.

Scientists call this Enclothed Cognition. In a famous experiment at Northwestern University, researchers Hajo Adam and Adam Galinsky found that subjects wearing a white coat described as a "doctor’s coat" showed significantly higher sustained attention spans, making fewer errors on tests, compared to those who thought they were wearing a "painter’s coat."

Clothes communicate who we are, and our personal uniforms make us feel and act a certain way.

Your personal uniform is the style that works best for you. It is not about trends. It is about dressing sharp and choosing clothes that suit your body and reflect your personality.

• The power blazer that makes you stand taller.

• The butter yellow shirt you simply can't stay annoyed in, because who can be pissed off in happy yellow?

• The matching Alo set that makes you feel x10 stronger and gives you the motivation to train harder.

This is where appearance starts to support performance. That "x10 stronger" feeling is backed by data, too. Professor Karen Pine from the University of Hertfordshire found that students wearing a Superman t-shirt actually rated themselves as physically stronger and more likeable than those in plain clothes (unpacking my Halloween Superwoman costume as we speak).

Taking care of how you look is a sign of self-respect, which in turn tells others to treat you with the same level of respect.

So looking good is not vain. What it really is, is being healthy and well put together. It will make you look good, feel good, perform better, and help you create more desirable first impressions. All wins here.

Want some help brainstorming where to start? Drop me a line.