Yes, you can and should improve your life through your sartorial philosophy, even if you aren’t a fashionista.

Sar-Tor-What Now??

Sartorial, definitively, literally means “of or relating to clothes” It’s easy to uncover the root of sartorial. Just strip off the suffix -ial and you discover the Latin noun sartor, meaning “tailor” (literally, “one who patches or mends”). Sartorial splendor has been the stuff of voguish magazines for years, and even sartor itself has occasionally proven fashionable, as it did in 1843, when Oliver Wendell Holmes wrote of “coats whose memory turns the sartor pale,” or in the 1870 title The Sartor, or British journal of cutting, clothing, and fashion. Sartorial has been in style with English speakers since at least 1823.

My use of clothing as a mode of self-improvement is very simple, really, and very tied to my own experience being a high-performance machine with sub-par results. Much of your self-esteem and personal success is tied to whether or not you can be deeply and truly honest with yourself and work to present what you feel to the world with confidence.

What is simple, is not necessarily easy or straightforward. This is why, in my own life, I start with clothing and use it help access what I’m truly feeling in that moment. Your true personality, feelings, and ambitions can be accessed by understanding your relationship to your personal style. It is deeply personal, and deeply effective when done with an open mind. Beyond that, it is science! There is significant evidence that dressing in certain ways impacts how others view you (not exactly groundbreaking news), but beyond that it is proven that dressing to develop and control your own confidence can actually create change and purpose in your own mind.

Clothing and physical presentation is a way to draw out and show off your best qualities.

Fashion is a funny thing. It is built upon (and responsible for, but that’s another blog post) some very manipulative marketing techniques. Most of the world doesn’t buy clothing because it is a way to help themselves feel confident, and show off their inner selves, they buy because they are programmed to by an entire industry that is built upon the idea that their consumer needs to feel inadequate about themselves in order to consume their product.

Style is a tool, and it can and should be used to create confidence and drive success for the wearer.

Clothing is one of the first, and most impactful, modes of communication you can use to speak to those around you. Even more impressive than that, it is scientifically proven that dressing in ways that are congruent with your personality and are intentionally put together to have a certain effect on your audience is psychologically powerful both to the wearer and to the observer. You can actually build and affect your own confidence when you are authentic to your “Why” in how you present yourself, and it is the most surefire way to ensure that who you are is what you represent.

Mind blown, yet? I hope not, but regardless, I would love to explore your thoughts and questions on this further. Connect in the comments, or by sending me a shoutout, and let’s discuss!!

XOXO,

Photo Credits: 5280 Headshots, Caitlin Hamilton Photography

*Originally published on nuorikko.com