YOU ARE WHAT YOU WEAR — by Cyril Fafa Adom
We all wear clothes, in fact am yet to hear about any group of people from any tribe who do not wear some form of clothes in this modern era. But do you know that the clothes you wear to an extent reflect who you are? Back in school, I had a friend(name withheld for security reasons) who so much fancy wearing multi coloured clothes, you rarely see this guy dress without mixing colours up. He could wear clothes that have all the rainbow colors in it. Sometimes, it got so funny that we couldn’t help but laugh at him. We thought he was weird, in fact, some thought he was a ‘villager’. We once went to a program with him, and the moment we entered e room, everyone started starring at us. I thought they were probably admiring how handsome we looked until I realized that all eyes were rather fixed on this my friend who was wearing a‘disco’ coloured attire. After that incidence, I began to wonder why this guy always wanted to advertise colours in his dressing, it was then I realized that there was some correlation between his personality and his choice of clothes.
I know most of you have friends who wear certain types of clothes which make you shout “omg! this guy/lady has a terrible sense of fashion’, some of you may even shout ‘this guy/lady is a villager paapa, see what he is wearing’. Well, it is all cool if you do that but after reading this article, you wouldhave realized that a person’s choice of clothing is largely affected by their personality and not just their poor or otherwise sense of fashion.We more often than not make our choices on what to wear and what not to wear based on who we are.
Ok! So lets get rolling now! Personality is what makes a person a unique person and it begins to show as early as during our childhood. One major influence on our personalities is our temperaments. Temperament is a set of genetically determined traits that determines one’s approach to the world. Our temperament influences everything we do; from the way we eat to the way we talk to the way we express our emotions and to the way we dress. Every single human being has a temperament and this shows in our choice of clothes. The four basic categories of temperaments as proposed by Hippocrates over 2400 years ago are sanguine, choleric, melancholy and phlegmatic. I will briefly explain how these temperaments affect a person’s choice of clothes and dressing.
Sanguine are fun loving super extroverts. They are friendly and noisy in nature. They always want to make their presence felt. They have an extraordinary ability to make people happy. They are also attention seekers. It is this trait in their character that influences their choice of clothes. Similarly, choleric are quick, active, practicaland self willed extroverts. They are risk takers. Both sanguine and cholericbeing attention seeking extroverts wear clothes that will focus attention on them. They don’t shy away from the eye of the public. They always want to put on clothes that draw attention to them. They love hot colours such as red and yellow. They are fashionable, sometimes overly fashionable. Sanguine and to an extent choleric do not shy away from controversy. Among groups of friends, there will surely be sanguine and choleric, the attention seeking guys and ladies who dress to be noticed sometimes to the disgust of the melancholic and phlegmatic. So if you have friends like this, do not overly criticize what they wear, that is who they are.
Melancholies are the most gifted human beings. They are analytical, self sacrificing, perfectionists and intelligent. They are not too friendly but they are the most dependable of friends. Melancholies are introverts and they are normally shy and very reserved. Similarly, phlegmatic are the calm easy going people. They are easy to get along with. They are sometimes timid but have a good sense of humour. Phlegs are diplomatic and well organized people. They pay attention to details. These character traits of both Mels and Phlegs heavily influence their choices of clothes. These people normally like dull colours such as blue, green and brown. They are not attention seekers by nature. As such, they do not wear clothes that draw attention to them. They wear mild coloured clothes. They are however well dressed people due to their perfectionist nature. They will under no circumstances dress shabbily. Mels and Phlegs are the types that won’t just wear anything for the sake of fashion. They are meticulously dressed people. San and cho want to wear things that will attract attention but Mel and Phleg are the opposites.
Temperament is however not the only element of our personalities that influence our choices of clothes we wear. Our character is also revealed in our choice of clothes. We all have different characters, and we exhibit our characters in several ways including our dressing. The reason why one woman will confidently wear some clothes that reveal part of her nakedness and another woman won’t wear those clothes is partly because of their different characters. A character is all the qualities that a person has that make the person distinct from another person. A person’s character is more often than not revealed in what they wear. A woman with a strong moral background is likely not to wear clothes which reveal part of her nakedness to a public gathering.
The clothes we wear communicate to other people who we are. Our clothes reflect our personalities. There is this popular informal saying which goes like this ‘don’t mind the body but mind the engine’. This saying is normally a graffiti or normally written on the screens of vehicles. This is a saying pregnant with meaning. I fully understand the reasoning behind this saying but I do not fully agree with it. This saying in the context of our discussion simply means that we should not mind our appearance but we should just mind the state of our heart. To this, I disagree. We must mind the engine but the body too must be “minded”. Our appearance is so very important. I am an unrepentant believer in the importance of a person’s appearance. When people meet us,it is our appearance especially our clothes that they judge first. The clothes we wear alone can put people off or attract people to us. Before someone gets toknow our hearts and how good we maybe,it is our appearance that first communicates. Your appearance talks to people before they get to know the real you, and since not everyone will get the opportunity to know you better, your appearance is the impression they will keep about you. Appearance is not only clothing but am limiting it to only clothing in this article.
God certainly judge by the heart but humans will always judge by appearance. So long as we live among humans,we need to check what we wear. Humans are sight driven creatures; our appearance alone can win us favours. When you go for a job interview,your appearance first tells the interviewers who you are. When a guy tries to woo a lady, his appearance is so important to most ladies. Young lady, if you want men to notice you, please begin to dress well. Pay attention to what you wear because what you wear largely reflect who you are. You are what you wear. When you meet people, let your appearance speak for you. You might be the kindest and the most caring human being but if you do not dress well,people are not going to comeclose to you. Nobody likes people who dress haphazardly. So what does it really mean to dress well? Well, am not an authority on fashion and I won’t pretend to be one. But I can confidently say that one of the basic rules of fashion is that you dress to fit an occasion and in my opinion you need to dress decently. The Greek philosopher, Protagorias, once said that ‘man is the measure of all things…’ so am not about to determine what is decent dressing and what is not decent dressing. I will leave it to the judgement of each one of us.
Choose what you wear, wear what you think fits you, wear what you think is decent and appropriate, just remember to dress well. Dressing is personal branding; dressing tells people who you are, so dress well. Dress to impress, dress to gain respect, dress to show yourself worth, dress to win favours and dress well because you are what you wear.
Cyril Fafa Adom
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