# Dressing to impress vs. dressing to be comfortable - **Episode:** [149](https://agents.truthliesandwork.com/episodes/149.md) (2024-11-28) - **Type:** interview - **Tags:** dress code, comfort, impression - **Time:** 9:55–13:47 (start 595s) - **Listen:** [https://truthliesandwork.com/149?t=595](https://truthliesandwork.com/149?t=595) --- [9:55] Angela Foster: I love that. No, I absolutely love that. And I think that's one of the things with I mean, and it started way before the pandemic. Do you know what I mean? Like, people were getting more relaxed, not only in their appearance at home, but also absolutely at their appearance at work. So then we went through this whole work from home, and then it was a hybrid and all of that. So that has really changed the way people show up. And I think that's one of the things that's making it so tough, especially for women, because guys have so many fewer options when it comes to clothes and all of that. But for women, we have a lot of options, right? Like suits or pants, the whole thing [10:30] Leanne Elliott: Yeah [10:32] Angela Foster: I think that's one of the things that where it used to be very defined. We'd have our weekend wear and we'd have our work clothes. And those were, it was very clear. Like, I don't know about you, but I had 2 sections in my closet. And if it was Monday through Friday, I knew exactly what I was going to grab. If it was the weekend, I went to the other side. That's one of the things that's making it so challenging for women right now, right? Because you have, you don't just have those 2 buckets anymore. You have the work from home bucket where I'm going to be on video, or you have the casual Friday, which has turned into super duper casual Friday. Now though, it feels like I feel like women are getting tired of that. They're tired of the yoga pants, they're tired of the shapeless clothes and all of that. And there's really been, at least with my clients, there's been a big resurgence for wanting to have fun with clothes again. You know what I mean? And yes, to your point about the sleazy salesman, car salesman, it looks different than it used to, right? [11:26] Leanne Elliott: Yeah [11:26] Angela Foster: There's still that, I'm not going to corset myself into something super uncomfortable. I still appreciate that comfort, but I want to step it up a little bit and I want I want to let people know that I did put an effort into the way that I look and the way I show up. Because there's also that thing where if you're from the customer standpoint and you see somebody and you don't feel like they put a lot of effort into it, there is a subliminal message that says, well, if they're not going to put effort into how they showed up to meet me, how much effort are they going to put into my project, my job, whatever I'm hiring them to do? [12:00] Al Elliott: Yeah [12:02] Angela Foster: There's that, that we always have to keep in mind [12:04] Leanne Elliott: I can hear some voices from women in my head going, what are you talking about? Doesn't matter what you wear. It doesn't matter what you look like. Hourglass figures, what rubbish. It's all about confidence. And you know what, if there's anyone out there listening going, this is making me feel uncomfortable, this feels like we're objectifying women's bodies in the workplace, what do you say to that? [12:24] Angela Foster: I love that. And I would love to say that everybody you meet is such an elevated— in such an elevated mental state that they're not judging us. But we know that they're 100% judging us. It doesn't matter. They're not trying to be mean. They're not trying to come up with reasons to hate us or think— you know what? They're not. It's just human nature. And at this point, I only can accomplish so many things, and changing human nature at this point in my life is probably not one of them. So we can absolutely say it's not fair. You should appreciate me because of my big fat brain and how brilliant I am and all of that. And that's amazing. And if you want to, that's great. When you're talking about growing your career or building your business and all of that, we have to deal with reality. And at this point in our evolution, that's reality. So yes. And to your point, the other thing, objectifying. So, I mean, I guess you could look at it like when you feel confident in your outfit and you're accentuating your favorite feature, are you objectifying yourself? I mean, I've never thought about it like that before, but I do know how I show up when I love my outfit. And I also know how I show up when my makeup's a mess, my hair's, well, frizzy, and all of that. And it's 2 different people. Do you know what I mean? It's distracting when I don't feel good. And I don't think I'm the only one that's like that