“She is clothed with strength and dignity” (Proverbs 31:25).

If your work clothes have been gathering dust due to the pandemic’s endless Zoom meetings, you might want to bring them out of the closet.

It’s long been known that making a good first impression is an indispensable key to success, but putting our best foot forward—literally—can also enhance our performance at work. Both social scientists and saints affirm that appearances do, sometimes, matter.

A person’s wardrobe can communicate who that person is, illustrating personality, values, and lifestyle. Our sartorial choices can even influence the way others behave toward us and inspire respect. Take firefighters, for instance. Just by looking at them, we know who they are, and what they wear better equips them to do their tasks.

But everyday clothes also influence the wearer.

There’s truth to the old saying, “Dress good, do good, feel good.” Studies have shown that the things we wear also have a psychological effect on ourselves. The types of garments we put on and the colors we choose affect our mental readiness as well as our mood. Our outfit of the day can trigger confidence and determination. In addition, feeling uncomfortable because our work clothes are ill-fitting or unsuitable can take our focus off our day’s goals and shift it toward the menial concerns of a blouse being too low-cut.

If you’ve felt ready to conquer the world when you’ve stepped into your best power heels or dabbed a flattering shade of lipstick, it’s because knowing we are put together helps us feel prepared. An experiment by behavioral scientists at Columbia University and California State University found that dressing formally enhances our ability to think abstractly and expansively—the “big picture” thinking necessary for leadership roles. Alternatively, people who opt for more casual ensembles for work tend to focus more on immediate pragmatic tasks. What we wear creates a chain reaction. “They self-reinforce; they reverberate,” researcher Abraham Rutchick told American University Radio.

According to Business Insider, a study at Yale concluded that sloppy attire can result in poor performance. In the experiment, people who were dressed formally beat their casual counterparts by a long shot; they exhibited calm and collected behavior, were assertive, and took greater risks. Study participants who arrived in flip-flops and sweats tended to second-guess themselves. They “showed greater heart rate variability reactivity, so they felt basically nervous,” researcher Michael Kraus told NPR.

It’s Not What You Wear but How You Wear It

It’s a common misconception that to look or feel confident, we need to spend money on designer labels and flaunt brand names—but even expensive clothing can be unflattering. The key is to find pieces that fit well. When we wear clothes that suit our environment and our body, we spend less time fussing over them and more time getting things done.

The ideal woman of Proverbs 31 is well-arrayed, and as one who is highly admirable, she also “slays.” We know that she is dressed in “fine linen and purple,” which tells us she looks her best when doing her many tasks, such as buying a piece of land, making a profit from it, and then reinvesting those earnings to finance another project. She also makes sure her whole household is dressed nicely, and we learn that her family is respected in its community, which helps her husband gain a better position. If she has it together on the outside, it’s also a reflection of a healthy spiritual life.

Orderliness First Comes from the Heart

Who we are on the inside is often reflected outwardly. In his “Introduction to the Devout Life,” St. Francis de Sales notes that a sense of order starts from within: “External seemliness is a sort of indication of inward good order, and God requires those who minister at His Altar, or minister in holy things, to be attentive in respect of personal cleanliness.”

Modesty, a word we often associate with being “covered up,” also means dressing in a way that recognizes the event or circumstance we find ourselves in. Clothes for the beach have their place, just as what we wear to a funeral serves a different purpose. If we’re going to a job interview, we aim to look our neatest self. The same principle should apply to everyday work life.

St. Francis said a good Catholic should never—if possible—go about with soiled or stained clothing. Speaking to lay men and women to whom he was a spiritual director, he advised against untidiness. To be slovenly, he said, is disrespectful toward others.

But, what if we work in a casual environment? Rutchick’s research suggests that even dressing one notch better than is expected is enough to stimulate positive cognitive effects. 

After more than a year of remote work, many professionals have shifted to wearing loungewear while working at home. Though we may not need a full suit set for virtual meetings in our living room, we will still feel the benefits of wearing an ensemble that looks professional—both for our own motivation and as a gesture of self-respect (and respect for the people with whom we are meeting virtually).

Though St. Francis is clear about avoiding vanity and not being over the top, he suggests that it’s especially important for a person of faith to dress appropriately. As we represent Christ and the Church, we want to do so in a way that demonstrates our values, especially in an increasingly visual world. As Catholics, we believe that our clothing does matter; otherwise, God wouldn’t have clothed Adam and Eve, nor would St. Paul have told the women of Corinth to wear head coverings (which in their time and culture was deemed necessary for respectable women). Moreover, we recognize that what we wear can show others our belief in the dignity of the person. As St. Francis wrote, “I should like my devout man or woman to be the best dressed person in the company.”

Dressing well doesn’t mean we have to be clad in the most expensive or ostentatious getup. Nor is it about wearing a specific style or brand. It does mean that we recognize our worth and identity as children of God and properly represent the Lord in all we do—including how we show up in the workplace.

Blanca Thérèse Morales is first and foremost a beloved daughter of God the Father. She has been blessed to spend 12 years writing about events, culture and faith for various publications, including The Florida Catholic, Verily Magazine and Life Teen. It was in meeting great people through her writing that she discovered her other passions: building community, hosting brunches, and organizing house concerts. When she’s not media buying or creating content at work, she can be found exploring new places, searching for the best lattes or microblogging at @Rise.And.Create. Find her on LinkedIn, or connect with her on Instagram @pursuingloveliness.