Science meets style for your personal brand: The upside of dressing up for work
Style isn’t superficial - it’s strategic. Discover how science-backed clothing choices can elevate the confidence, credibility and leadership you bring to your personal brand
The pandemic affected the world in ways many are still recovering from. One often overlooked symptom of the lockdowns, and working from home becoming the new norm, is a potential loss of your professional sense of style. Style is a form of self-expression for your personal brand, but it also matters for your performance more than you might realise.
According to McKinsey and Co’s State of Fashion report in 2021, during the pandemic, formal and workwear plummeted, while loungewear surged. As they dubbed it, it was ‘turbocharged casualisation’.
But as the science in this blog shows, casual clothes can equal a casual attitude - one that can significantly impact your credibility. Meaning, there’s a cost to your comfort.
I’ve never been one to dress in sweats during work hours - neither during the pandemic, nor now that I work from home and online. However, the lockdown did have a significant impact on my wardrobe choices in general. Looking back at the last few years, I realised I’ve worn yoga pants in more scenarios than I have ever worn in my life combined - including the years I actually did go to the gym.
My husband and I recently moved into a new home and get to enjoy the wardrobe he built for us. It has shed a new light on my clothing archive. The little collection I accumulated over 10+ years working in fashion, alongside my marketing career. It made me realise that, in addition to the major things the pandemic took from many, for some, it quietly robbed our sense of style too. Our subtle, yet important self-expression. A self-expression that affects our self-confidence and credibility. So, I say, it’s time to reclaim any sense of style you might have lost along the way and re-embrace the power of dressing up. Here’s why:
1. Embrace ‘Enclothed Cognition’: The symbolic meaning of clothing
What you wear doesn’t just influence how others perceive you; it influences you - how you think, feel and perform.
‘Enclothed Cognition’ is a term coined by psychologists Hajo Adam and Adam Galinsky of Northwestern University. In their research, participants donned identical white coats described as either a doctor’s coat or a painter’s coat. Those who were told it was a doctor’s coat performed significantly better on attention-related tasks than those who were told they were wearing a painter’s coat.
The research concluded that the symbolic meaning of clothes activates associated mental processes. So the next time you slip into your sweats on your work-from-home day, ask yourself if you’re selling your potential short for the day.
Before: You dress for comfort without considering the message it sends to others about your personal brand - or yourself.
After: You wear clothing that reinforces the mindset and identity you want to embody, sharpening focus and elevating your personal brand from the inside out.
2. Opt for the more formal alternative for abstract thinking
In 2015, Social Psychological and Personality Science published a study titled “The Cognitive Consequences of Formal Clothing”. Participants in the study dressed in either casual or formal clothing to complete tasks designed to measure abstract thinking. Those wearing more formal clothing consistently outperformed their casual counterparts in abstract thinking.
Dressing formally is said to increase ‘social distance’. This promotes broader and higher-level thinking, much like the type required in leadership, long-term planning and innovation.
Before: Your outfit keeps you in your comfort zone - physically and mentally - limiting big-picture thinking.
After: You dress with formality and intention, activating the clarity and strategic thinking required to lead and grow your personal brand.
3. Communicate your credibility quickly
The Journal of Fashion Marketing and Management published a study in 2013 titled “The influence of clothing on first impressions: Rapid and positive responses to minor changes in clothing formality”. The researchers investigated how a subtle shift in clothing formality influenced perceptions of a person’s:
Trustworthiness
Competence
Authoritativeness
Approachability
Credibility
To explore this, participants viewed photos of the same person in slightly different outfits, e.g. with or without a jacket, shirt tucked or untucked, and were asked to rate them based on these traits.
Even the slight differences in clothing details, such as adding a blazer or switching to a more structured silhouette, made a significant impact on how the individual was perceived. The person, while dressed more formally, was rated as more competent, trustworthy and confident and better suited to leadership. And judgments were made within milliseconds, asserting the power of instant visual cues in a professional personal brand.
Before: You rely on your title, words and work to convey authority for your professional personal brand.
After: You use subtle shifts in styling, structure, tailoring and detail to quietly and instantly communicate trust, competence, and personal brand credibility.
4. Pick power suits for power moves
A study titled ‘Dress for Success: Clothing Influences Self-Perception and Negotiation Outcomes’, published in the Journal of Experimental Psychology General in 2014, investigated how status-signalling clothing affects social perceptions, plus actual behavioural outcomes in negotiation settings.
The male participants were assigned either casual attire (sweats), neutral attire, or business attire (suit and tie). They were then asked to engage in mock negotiations, structured to test assertiveness and dominance behaviours.
Those wearing formal/business attire were consistently rated as higher status, more competent and more persuasive by both participants and observers. Participants in suits also negotiated more successfully, demanded higher value, and were less likely to make unnecessary concessions. High-status dressers also displayed more dominant body language, had lower heart rates and exhibited greater internal control, all of which contributed to the edge in their performance.
Before: You show up underdressed in high-stakes situations and unintentionally increase your chances of underperforming in impact and authority of your personal brand.
After: You dress to signal status and leadership, negotiating, presenting and influencing with presence and personal brand power.
5. Choose clothing for confidence
It’s not just about dressing formally to unlock your personal brand potential. It’s about aligning with your ideal self-image. A 2019 study explored the psychological impact of clothing on self-esteem and confidence. It focused on how aligning your outfit with your ideal self-image influences how you feel and act throughout the day.
In the study, participants were asked to wear clothing that matched either:
The ideal self-image, i.e. how they want to see themselves or be perceived, or
A neutral or mismatched style, i.e. not aligned with their ideal self-perception.
The research measures changes in self-esteem, mood, confidence level and proactive behaviours, e.g. social engagement and networking. Participants wearing clothing consistent with their ideal self-image reported significantly higher self-esteem and confidence. This boost translated into more proactive and positive social interactions, such as an increased willingness to engage in networking or leadership tasks.
The alignment between clothing and self-image enabled participants to internalise their aspirational identity, reinforcing motivation and professional presence. Dressing intentionally is a form of identity expression that shapes not just how others see you, but how you see yourself. This internal confidence shift fuels the behaviours that positively reinforce your personal brand - better communication, clearer decision-making and stronger leadership presence.
Before: Your outfit reflects your current mood or role, not your goals.
After: You dress to express your aspirational identity, boosting confidence and aligning your behaviour with the boldest version of your personal brand.
Your clothes aren’t just fabric, they’re framing.
When you dress with intention, you prime your mind, signal your strengths and show up as the leader you aspire to be. So whether you’re logging on from home or stepping into a boardroom, don’t underestimate the power of a polished personal style. Your personal brand deserves to be seen and taken seriously by others and yourself.
