Your clothes make you

A story told to me by my dear friend Pete Cura was about his uncle doctor, the late Dr. Yolando Sulit or Yolo, one of our leading cardiolo-gists.

My friend’s story goes this way. Pete’s friend Joe was waiting for his flight to depart from Ninoy Aquino International Airport when Dr. Sulit and a companion walked into the departure area. Dr. Sulit’s companion looked dapper in a business suit and an official carry-on bag while Dr. Sulit was in jeans, loafers and a T-shirt, all signature brands, eating corn on the cob.

Joe approached Dr. Sulit and they started chatting, waiting for their respective flights. It was then that Joe learned that Dr. Sulit was on his way to Geneva to attend a medical conference where he was invited to deliver a talk. The guy in the business suit, whom Joe thought was Dr. Sulit, was Dr. Sulit’s assistant.

Another story is about my children and myself some years back. We walked into the Gucci store in Los Angeles. I had a little cash in my pocket but I had credit cards and my daughter had more cash than me but I looked elegant with my pearls while my daughter was in blue jeans and a T-shirt. The sales girls approached me and ignored my daughter Pin.

Any lesson from that? Yes. It seems that clothes make the man. Another line comes to mind: Don’t judge a book by its cover. What is important is the kind of impression you make on people. The local idiom says, Depende sa dating. Or as the youth of today would say, carry mo ba?

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To put it in melodramatic terms, would you believe someone who does not look and sound like someone you can believe? Will you put your lifestyle advice in the hands of someone who looks like a hippie or a kargador when he’s supposed to be a doctor?

So how do you acquire dating? It’s really simple, look right. Even if clothes are from the ukay ukay or Divisoria stalls, when put together well, anything can look right. How you carry yourself becomes the foundation of the impression you make. A word of caution, there is a great temptation to be faddish, to keep up with the times or trends. Don’t be a slave to trends.

I cannot overemphasize this because there are simply no hard and fast clothes rules. To begin with, these rules are useless because they are broken anyway. So, suffice it to say that being in touch with yourself, your personality, your mood, your elan is all that is really required for you.

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Let’s begin with color. I kid you not, color turns on the senses.

Men say blue is their favorite, children rate it lowest in preference though. Orange is highest on their list. Hindu brides wear yellow for luck as does the minister who performs the ceremonies. The I Ching says a yellow garment brings good fortune. The American Indian’s peace pipe is red. Brown was the earliest color on man’s palette because he took paints from clay. In ancient Egypt, purple was the color of the earth while Buddha liked to wear red when he meditated.

Again no hard and fast rules for colors. Experiment but keep in tune with your complexion and shape at all times. Carry mo ba? Clothes should bring out your best features and camouflage your worst liabilities. It is all that simple. Clothes are your best weapon.