Episode #168: Dress For Success When Presenting

How should we dress when presenting and does it actually matter? It matters - particularly in Japan. Japan is a very formal country, in love with ceremony, pomp and circumstance. Always up your formality level in dress terms in Japan, compared to how formal you think will be enough. This was a big shock for this Aussie boy from Brisbane, who spent a good chunk of his life wearing shorts and T-shirts or blue jeans and T-shirts. Tokyo is not Silicon Valley, where dress down is de rigueur and where suits have gone the way of the Dodo. This is a very well dressed, sophisticated capital city where serious money is spent on quality clothing.

Business suits are a given when presenting. Not even coat and slacks in the Italian style, but business suits. The colour should be on the dark spectrum to fit in with the solemnity of your “aura and presence” as an expert, about to pontificate on your subject. A serious speaker in a light coloured suit is an oxymoron in Japan. Go dark. The suits don’t have to be the deepest black in colour, because darker greys and blues will work. Now the odd thing is this applies in summer too. The summer speech outfit will be a little lighter in colour than the winter suit, but not as light as the very light colours in summer suits. It doesn’t matter if they are three piece, double-breasted, or have one, two or three buttons.

Needless to say the suit should fit well. I have a very old and dear friend who has, like me, been in constant battle with his weight. We take it off and then we put it all and more, back on again. Very frustrating of course, but a painful reality. The sight one day, of him giving a major speech, while only able to close the bottom suit button, rather than the top, was very sad. It said to the audience, “I am fat, in denial and have not bothered to adjust my suits to match this fact”. We all have our “fat suits” of course, for those occasions when we are losing the struggle against our expanding waistband, so that would be a good choice if you are carrying a few too many kilos. However, if even the “fat suit” is now too tight, then go to the tailor and get it adjusted. Better to be paying a small amount of money for that, then telling the world you are a loser in the battle of the bulge.

The shoes will be formal, brogues are good, shined within an inch of their lives and never “down at heel”. It would be rare to wear any other colour than black, because the suits are going to be dark. The belt obviously must match the colour of the shoes and be in good condition, not looking like you have worn it to death. I don’t even know why I mention this, except that I often see some Japanese gentlemen messing it up getting the colour coordination wrong and displaying a belt clearly on its last legs.

The socks should match with the colour of the slacks and avoid fascinating contrast colours that herald your rebellious and exciting individuality. Save that funky revolution for the weekend. They should be knee rather than ankle length. When seated on stage, for say a panel discussion, there is nothing more alarming than the sight of a very hairy shin protruding from underneath the suit pants.

The shirt should be white, never coloured. I know this seems very limiting and lacking in imagination but there is a biological reason for it. When we are on stage we can become nervous or the lighting on stage can heat us up. The consequence is we begin to perspire and the neck area is one location where this happens very quickly. That gorgeous Egyptian Giza 45 cotton shirt, in light blue, becomes a two tone job, as soon as the sweat envelopes your collar and makes it turn dark blue. Now the audience is losing touch with what you are saying and are fascinated by your unfolding two tone colour arrangement of your shirt.

For the same reason NEVER take off your suit jacket. I am soaked under my jacket, by the end of a 40 minute talk, because I am pumping out so much energy and heat. If I had my jacket off, there would be a much darker colour running down the side of my body. By the way, there is nothing more unpleasant than seeing someone in a shirt, sporting a saturated armpit, raise their arm so the soaked armpit becomes visible to the audience.

Your tie collection may have some daring beauties, but leave them at home. At one stage, I was sporting some very ferocious Versace ties, with very vibrant colour combinations and adventurous patterns. I never wore them for speeches though, because they were competing with my face, for the attention of the audience. Also, forget the power colours. You don’t need them, because your speech delivery should have power and authority to command the obedience of the assembled masses.

The same daring do logic applies to pocket squares. Especially fluffy, elaborate and exuberant little darlings grab the gaze of the crowd and they take their eyes off your face. We don’t want that. The plastic name badges you are given by the organisers are another trap. Don’t wear them when you get up to speak. They reflect the lights and your body movement can set them off on a navy signal lamp training session. We don’t want anything competing with us when we are speaking.

I am highly reticent to speak about ladies fashion, because I have so little knowledge of this subject. My wife tries to encourage me to become more expert, but there has been no great progress to date. My only advice would be basically adopt the same ideas – dark suits, white blouses, black shoes, no scarves, modest earrings and broaches and basic hair and makeup approaches. This is not a runway extravaganza, but a chance to drive home your message. By the way, if it is a panel discussion, where you would be seated on stage, then a trouser suit may be easier. Always make your face the centrepiece, so the audience is firmly focused there. Our faces can transmit so much power to drive our messages, so we can’t let anything compete with this awesome weapon.