Mantus

My turn!

There is a difference between dressing to impress, look good or attract

Impressing people is easy. Have expencive, well fited clothing. Well fited is key. People worth impressing will be impressed because they themselves shop for expensive clothing thus recognize the quality.

If you simply wish to look good it's not impoirtant to have expensive stuff, the reason people recomend having one great outfit rather then five cheap ones is because most guys dont know how to dress themselves. Expencive usually equals taste and style. If you have both then you can be thrifty. Looking good is wearing whatever you feel most comfortable in that's within social norms. It's something that's congruent with who you are. For example jeans and a t-shirt that fits you well works for allot of guys. You will look good becasue you will feel good and people mostly care about the energy and vibe you project - not your clothing. A guy can be wearing a $500 casual outfit or a $100 outfit and it will make a very minor impact on how people percieve him as long as he can be himself and comfortable.

This is key! Understand this.

Dressing to attract, or peacocking as some may call it, is a whole other animal. Dressing good gives you points with people, however many men know how to dress themselves so you wont be that special. Dressing to impress can actually work against you if you are also trying to attract...because well, you are trying...

Dressing to attract is having the balls to dress outside of the "cool" boundaries. It's going beyond the norm being totally comfortable with it. That doesnt mean you have to dress like an Japanese raver kid. Infact they are not dressing to attract because they are actually playing it safe, their style is within the "norm" for their peer group. Same with goth kids - they actually dress within boundaries of cool. I'll get more into this later, for now some minor ideas.

Have a "wuz-that" item. See, people want to talk, but most find it difficult to open a conversation. So give them something to go "wuz-that?!" about. This is usually a cool piece of jewlery, or a unique item of clothing. Notice how a nose piercing is while "cool" and "out-there" is not an attraction item...there is nothing that special about them. If you had a unique nose piercing...then it would work. However it has to catch intrest which means it has to have character - it can't blend in. It helps if you have a story or cool fact about the item to spark a conversation further.

I personally have a hand made bracelet that's shiny and a bit feminine which a friend of mine made me. I have a shirt which says "I Heart Redheads"...everyone that's not a readhead always wants to know why they are not loved. A spiked necklace.

Next is any item that can be taken away. Hats, scarves and easy to remove jewlery works here. People will want to play with them. This will spark an interaction. Not only that but if you want to make someone feel special or stick around while you are talking to someone else, just put your hat on their head. They are obliged to stay then.

Now that the minor issues are covered lets bring out the big guns. As a disclamer I have only tried this in casual settings (bars, clubs, house parties) Dressing to attract by going outside of what is cool. The key is to be unique. It all depends on the context. Dressing like a goth or a raver outside of those circles will get you looks and may even attract a few people to you, but existing styles have allot of baggage. So you will probably get pigeonholed by most.

What we are aiming for is for people to want to meet you in order to figure you out. We don't want people looking at and placing us in a niche as "polo", "business", "goth", or watever guy. People are intrigued by what they don't understand. They will either come to you or be receptive when you come to them.

It's very important to have a style that is completely congruent with your personality. If you are a good guy, dont dress like a badboy. If you are a laid back guy who hate sloud colors, dont put them on just to get attention. Not only will you feel uncomfortable, which people will read, but people will feel decieved/disapointed once they actually meet you. If you dress to your personality then it will amplify your character.

This is dressing to attract.

Cheers.