Style: Awareness
Understand what style means, what's possible, and where you stand. About 15 minutes.
Your clothing and grooming choices shape how others perceive you and how you feel about yourself. The effects are measurable and surprisingly large.
A Temple University study tracking 808 employee days found that people who dressed better than usual had stronger self-esteem and performed better on tasks. Research from Northwestern University showed participants wearing lab coats made significantly fewer mistakes on attention tasks compared to those in everyday clothing.
In the workplace, 41% of employers report that employees who dress professionally are more likely to be promoted, rising to 55% in financial services. Clothing also functions as a communication system, conveying information about competence, status, and identity before you ever speak.
Most people underinvest in style relative to its impact. Research shows the average person spends 17 minutes daily choosing outfits, wears only 44% of their wardrobe regularly, and frequently experiences clothing-related stress that affects punctuality and mood. Even modest improvements in how you dress can yield disproportionate returns in confidence, professional outcomes, and social interactions.
People pursue style for different reasons. This site scores every style intervention across four core values. Later, you'll set your own weighting across these four values, and the site will rank interventions by how well they deliver on the things you actually care about.
Attractiveness
Looking appealing to others across romantic and social contexts through deliberate clothing, grooming, and presentation choices. People who lean towards this value focus on flattering fit, body-appropriate silhouettes, and building wardrobes that make them look their best to the widest range of people.
Status & Professional
Signalling competence, authority, and taste through clothing in career and social settings. People who lean towards this value invest in pieces that communicate success and command respect in professional and social hierarchies, understanding dress codes and making strategic wardrobe choices for advancement.
Self-Expression
Communicating identity, values, and affiliations through distinctive clothing choices. People who lean towards this value choose clothing that reflects their personality and signals membership in chosen communities, developing a personal aesthetic and visual storytelling about who they are.
Comfort & Function
Prioritising clothing that supports daily activities, physical comfort, and practical needs. People who lean towards this value focus on weather appropriateness, ease of movement, durable fabrics, and minimising decision fatigue through streamlined wardrobe systems.
The Top 0.1% band represents roughly 1 in 1,000 people. To give you a sense of what that looks like for each style value:
Zendaya has become one of the most closely watched figures in contemporary fashion, consistently appearing on best-dressed lists since her early twenties. She works closely with stylist Law Roach to curate looks that reference fashion history while remaining distinctive. Her red carpet appearances regularly generate significant media coverage, and she was the youngest person to receive the CFDA Fashion Icon Award in 2021.
Christine Lagarde, President of the European Central Bank, is widely noted for projecting authority and credibility through her wardrobe choices. She consistently dresses at executive standards across formal, diplomatic, and media settings, demonstrating how strategic clothing choices can reinforce leadership presence at the highest levels.
Iris Apfel developed one of the most recognisable personal aesthetics of anyone in the public eye. Her bold, layered style combined vintage, couture, and flea-market finds into a signature look that was entirely her own. She became a style icon in her 80s and remained one into her 100s, demonstrating that distinctive self-expression through clothing can be sustained across a lifetime.
Steve Jobs famously wore the same black turtleneck, jeans, and trainers combination daily, eliminating decision fatigue entirely whilst maintaining a polished, recognisable appearance. His approach demonstrated that a fully systematised wardrobe can simultaneously achieve comfort, consistency, and a distinctive professional image.
Awareness means knowing your starting point. Answer each question below – some you might know off the top of your head, others might take a few minutes to reflect on.
Attractiveness
Status & Professional
Self-Expression
Comfort & Function
Your estimated position
Percentiles are estimates based on published data on clothing habits, wardrobe usage, and grooming standards. Unscored items (confidence outfits, decision time) are excluded from calculations.
You now understand why style matters, what different people get out of it, what's achievable, and where you currently stand. The final step is to set your personal value weightings and see which interventions are the best fit for you.
On the interventions page, adjust the sliders to reflect how much you care about attractiveness, status and professional signalling, self-expression, and comfort. The table will re-rank interventions to match your priorities.
Awareness assessment complete
You've built your foundation in Style. Your self-assessment and value weightings are saved.
View Your Interventions