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Does Your Appearance Affect Your Executive Presence? was originally published on Ivy Exec.
How you visually present yourself in the workplace is just one part of building your personal brand. How you style yourself—from your clothing choices to your hairstyles and makeup moves—is not the only piece of the puzzle. And it’s certainly not the important piece. (Read: Your actual workplace performance is what matters most.)
In other words: Being aware of your professional image is important, but it’s worth noting that dressing to impress means different things for different people. And, what you might choose to wear to work at a startup likely looks tremendously dissimilar to corporate office attire. Never mind that people have varying and oft-contradictory opinions on workplace appearance dos and don’ts.
Unfounded judgments, shame, and discrimination have no place at work. But research suggests that people who are deemed “attractive” earn about 20 percent more than those who are considered “average.” This means that putting yourself together could beget a bigger paycheck. However, too much makeup and controversial clothing pieces are considered “unprofessional,” which also means that managing your appearance is a juggling act.
So, if you’re worried about how your appearance affects your executive presence, you’re not the only one. And, while we wish we could live and work in a world that didn’t judge books by their covers, your concerns are valid. Studies have found these five ways that looks can impact your C-suite career.
⛔ Too much makeup could make you seem “untrustworthy.”
In 2011, researchers looked into the ways in which we perceive others and found some interesting insights about appearances in the workplace. The researchers photographed 25 white, African-American, and Hispanic women from 20 to 50 years old with “natural,” “professional,” and “glamorous” looks, as well as barefaced. From there, 149 adults reviewed the images for 250 milliseconds—which scientists say is just enough time to make a snap decision about someone. And another 119 adults were allowed to look at the same faces for as long as they wanted.
Overall, they generally considered the women with makeup to be more competent than those without it. But, the more time they had to evaluate the faces, the more they thought the women with “glamorous” makeup looks seemed “untrustworthy.”
⛔ Some clothing items aren’t as welcome at work as others.
But it’s not just makeup in the workplace. Research also shows that how you dress can also affect your executive presence. Studies suggest that employees are “offended” by cleavage, clothes that are too transparent, shorts, and flip-flops at work.
Other research indicates that wearing black may be one of the safer choices in the workplace—certainly over the color orange, which takes a lot of heat in the professional realm.
⛔ Designer labels could come off the wrong way.
Recent research indicates that people who wear designer labels may come off as unwilling to work with others. This is because they may be perceived as “showing off their wealth and social status.” On the other hand, people who don’t rock high-caliber brand names to work (at least not ostensibly) appear more cooperative and collaborative.
“It is generally assumed that signaling status can strategically benefit people who want to appear high class—why else would people pay a premium for products with luxury logos that have no other functional benefits? But it can also backfire by making them seem more self-interested,” lead researcher Shalena Srna, Ph.D., an assistant professor of marketing at the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business, said in a released statement. “In social situations that depend on cooperation [like the workplace], people will often choose to present themselves more modestly.”
For leaders, being approachable is important, especially if you work closely with your team of direct reports.
⛔ Tattoos are no-gos for some people in the workplace.
Tons of people have tattoos, which are arguably becoming less and less taboo in the workplace and, instead, more and more celebrated. Self-expression, after all, is something that many modern workplaces encourage, especially amidst a burgeoning business interest in diversity. But unfortunately, not everyone is on the same page about ink.
Sixty-seven percent of 35- to 49-year-olds say that tattoos are “acceptable” in the workplace. But 61 percent of people who are 50 years old and up find tattoos to be “distracting.”
⛔ Some people perceive unstyled hair as unprofessional (which can be discriminatory).
Endless research suggests that your hair can also impact how people perceive you at work. For example, a study from Australia suggests that red hair is deemed the least professional shade. The same study suggests that people who let their hair down (as opposed to tying it up) are considered “less proficient.”
Bias against natural hair has also been shown to limit job opportunities for people of color in the workplace. “Black hair and hair texture are part of the racial battleground for social justice,” researchers say, proving that “natural hair discrimination” is alive and pervasive in the workplace. For example, one study finds that “straightened hair” is associated with being “clean, professional, feminine, and pretty.” Meanwhile, “afro hair” is considered “wild and radical,” and dreadlocks are associated with being “ghetto, nasty, and gross” and are even tied to “drug use.” Natural Black hair has been called a civil rights issue for this reason.
