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The Linfield Review

The student news site of Linfield University

The Linfield Review

The student news site of Linfield University

The Linfield Review

Your wardrobe shouldn’t define who you are

Jeff Primozich
When you see me around campus, you will most likely see me wearing my favorite pair of Levi blue jeans, my brown leather Adidas and a T-shirt. High fashion, I know. Comfort is an important part of my wardrobe, although I do try to be more stylish than an oversized Budweiser shirt and sweatpants.
On April 23, however, I chose to dress up for a class presentation, and I wore dress shoes, dress slacks, a button-up shirt with tie and a suit jacket. It is remarkable how people responded differently to me. There is something about business dress that just exudes professionalism and authority. Take for example a photography assignment that took me to a local Mexican restaurant. I walked in with my camera and my business attire, and I asked if I could take pictures of the restaurant. The owner became nervous, and although he allowed my look throughout the restaurant, he was by my side the entire time. Weird, but whatever.
It wasn’t until I asked to take a few pictures of the kitchen that I began to realize that the owner was worried I was there for some random health inspection. He frantically began to explain to me that the kitchen is only messy because the cooks were
actively preparing dishes. The sweat began to bead at his brow. I could have cared less about the condition of his kitchen; I just wanted to take my pictures and get the hell out of there.
It got me to thinking, though: Why the hell does dress matter? Am I a different person when a tie is around my neck? Is there something about a button-up shirt that alters the neurotransmitters in my brain or inhibits certain receptors so that my demeanor is altered? It isn’t unreasonable to expect that a person, with who I am meeting for the first time, actually take a moment to get a first impression of me not based on my attire?
Maybe, just maybe, this line of reasoning is on a much different level than your ordinary person. Perhaps, even in my “youth,” I have reached a new understanding of how the world should work, a new level of social evolution, one based around a person’s character and not their fabric façade. Maybe I will bring about change to this repressive world of suits and ties. I will break down the walls of garment oppression.
I have a dream, that one day, we can all live in a world where we are judged not by the stitch of our britches but by the content of our character.
Maybe, but probably not.

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