How You Dress Says a Lot About You
and may affect your life more than you think

How you dress says about you. Have you considered what kind of image you are presenting to the world? Is it elegant?

Quite recently, I've been getting quite a number of small modelling jobs. I've done work for Estee Lauder and Clarins, been approached by online retailers and high end hair salons to do some modelling for them, as well as little modelling jobs for independent photographic and film societies. I've also attended a society event, and as a result, got my picture requested and published on their magazine and on their website (I still feel like a fraud). That is quite strange for me because I've been getting more attention about my looks in my 30s than in my 20s.

I've done a bit of commercial work when I was a child, in real estate television advertisements, educational magazines, and in my early twenties, commercial work for fashion magazines. Commercial work simply means posing to illustrate a story or sell something, and not the glamorous kind that you see on runway or fashion tv with all the top models in the world.

I've been wondering, has it been due to the way I've been dressing?

While I enjoy fashion, and even considered a career in fashion (opening my own store and designing dresses and gowns - I actually studied under a gown designer for 2 years) at one point, I've since realized that I only like 'elegant fashion'. I'm not into trends and couldn't care less what the fashion leading giants were doing. Thus, I felt to follow a career in fashion was not true to myself.

However, I feel the way I've dressed had somewhat led to more opportunities.

I wouldn't say I'm the best dresser or the most elegant, but I try dress as appropriate to the occasion and as elegantly as possible. Some say it is because I'm considered beautiful in my country and culture, but I'd also add to that while I grew up having more attention than most girls, there were some very beautiful and more beautiful than me who grew up alongside and didn't get any opportunities that I had.

When I say, "how you dress says much about you" I mean more than just putting on clothes. It is also how you wear your hair, do your make up, carry yourself that says a lot about you. It tells people what you think about yourself. Sometimes, people can also gauge what type of personality and character you are and even what you think about men or sex.

Neither would I say I'm an extremely vain person, in actuality, I'm pretty lazy and wouldn't wear make up if I didn't have to. I almost never comb my hair (thankfully, I have silky asian hair that would never get tangled even if I didn't comb it).

Though I'll admit here that I like to look pretty and appreciate the compliments I receive. I am aware of my own shortcomings, but I also know what I look good in. Some of the pretty girls that didn't get as much attention after they left school is because they were used to being called pretty and never made an effort to switch skincare, or learn how to put on make up properly or present themselves in the best way.

I was recently invited to be a model for an aesthetics beauty seminar. I had no idea what I would be doing, and just went along as a favor to my friend who was leaving for Sweden that night, thus who wouldn't be there. She sounded busy so I didn't ask her too many questions on what to wear or how to look.

I was told to be there at 6 pm, and so I arrived at 545 pm, allocating more time in case I get lost (knowing me) and being punctual for me is important.

I wore conservative make up, which means, concealling all the flaws like pimples and eyebags and having a natural eye with a little bit of eyeliner, and a natural blush with very little lipstick. I didn't know what kind of beauty conference, but I know beauty usually means no crazy eyeshadow or smokey eye effect.

I didn't know how to dress for this event. In the end I wore a silky white dress with prints and gold buttons, I just tied my hair in a low ponytail, since I figured they would want to use my face.

When I got there, there was no one, so I sat around reading high-end magazines (they were the only ones available). As time went by, doctors after doctors (both male and female) came into the office and walked up to me and introduced themselves. They will then ask me, "Where do you practice?". I was wondering why there were so many doctors and all asking me the same question. I had to explain, "No, I'm not a doctor. I'm here to help a friend." After a while, I almost felt embarassed not to be a doctor!

It was a beauty seminar for doctors in aesthetics beauty and cosmetic surgery! It was presented by a famous Korean doctor, whom I met much later on.

Later on, another group of people came into the office, and right away I could tell they were not doctors. I think everybody could too. Some were beauty PR executives, bosses of cosmetic companies and then...the other nose models.

The beauty public relations executives were dressed very fashionably (a little loud for the hospital), and the other nose models was pretty casual and almost sloppy for a beauty seminar. In the holding room, the whole non-doctor gang repeatedly said the same thing to me, "I thought you were a doctor!"

I was literally a specimen to show doctors as one of the types of nose, how to improve on, or what to do in certain cosmetic procedures or full on plastic surgery.

I found that hilarious.

I didn't feel offended when the big group of (well-dressed) doctors crowded round me and asking the leading Korean surgeon how to improve my nose. My nose was drawn on, and poked, tugged repeatedly. After all, I thought it was interesting to know how my nose fared!

My improvements? My nose bridge could be higher and the end of my nose could be sharper.

But I was really pleased to hear that the Korean doctor saying that I had a pretty good nose and not much needs to be done. He might be saying that I look 'natural' - we all know that most sharp noses on Korean beauties are mostly not natural.

Now, I'm not here to blow my horn in any way, but just to illustrate how you dress says a lot about you. I'm also NOT SAYING you have to dress to look like a doctor, or that I dressed better than the beauty PR/executives or the nose models. I'm just saying that people casually judge you by the way you dress.

So perhaps the thought to leave you with is, how would you like others to think about you?

When I was younger, I was often mistaken to be from a very wealthy family (definitely not). Even now, people seem to assume I have no money problems and have lots of spare. Except those of my friends who are way up there in terms of financial and social status....they know I can't keep up! These moneyed people can also tell right away that I'm not one of them! Haha.

I was also assumed to be the youngest and most loved child of the family (perhaps that's a way of saying that I looked like a princess? Which may or may not be a good thing)

SO...would you rather be mistaken for a doctor or a beauty PR executive? (This is personal preference - it is okay to want to be mistaken for a PR executive ).

Maybe it is important to consider about how you are presenting yourself to the world, if that is something that matters to you. I'm not asking you to put up a facade, but you know, sometimes the way you present yourself will lead you to other opportunities you not have had, for love, career or friendships.

Just a thought.

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