“Clothes maketh the man,” goes the old adage, and it’s still valid the world over. Many people believe clothing choices say much about a person’s character and social ties.

The cut and colour of a person’s outfit not only reveals what he or she was thinking about when dressing in the morning. They also illustrate the amount of effort which went into choosing the garments. Many a colour, fabric or combination can also reinforce time-honoured prejudices.

People tend to adopt some kind of uniform in daily life, usually because they are trying to fit in with certain surroundings or show their allegiance to a particular group, said German image consultant, Beatrix Isabel Lied.
This means that people use clothing to send signals to those around them. A person who wears black polo-neck sweater is inevitably an artist, an intellectual or an architect. Outdoor and nature-loving types tend to opt for sensible weatherproof jackets and trekking sandals instead.

French authors Catherine Joubert and Sarah Stern have written a book about such typecasts, with their insights relying heavily on the work of Sigmund Freud.

Joubert and Stern believe that there’s no need for men to mentally analyse a new party acquaintance or a female colleague. A woman’s outfit speaks loudly enough, assuming the observer understands the language.
According to style advisor, Lisa Zimmermann from Berlin, there is nothing superficial about judging people by the clothes they wear.