Basics of What to Wear For a Speech
‘Never judge a book by its cover.’
This is one of the few cliches I disagree with.
A cliche is a cliche because it has held true for centuries.
You can consider it a life law.
‘Then why don’t you agree with the never judge a book by its cover quote?’
Because I feel that it is misleading.
I lost count of the times I got a comment from my followers saying:
‘Yo, I literally bought your Level Up Mentality book because of how dope the cover looked! Great content too.’
Plenty of them bought it because of the damn cover!
Perception matters.
Humans are walking books.
It would be a shame if you practiced so hard on the speech, but then go dressed to the talk like a bum.
Let’s avoid that.
It’s a game of understanding the basics of what to wear for a speech.
Power of Perception
Just a quick disclaimer, I am giving this post from a man’s perspective.
So if you are one of my woman readers, I just wanted to let you know.
However, a lot of the principles can be applied to both genders.
Because a lot of the principles are common sense.
Perception matters.
And clothes influence perception.
‘I look good for others, right?’
That’s secondary.
The first goal is to look good for yourself.
Wardrobe impacts psychology.
And anyone who is struggling with speech anxiety should leverage their wardrobe.
It’s an easy hack.
To demonstrate this hack, try this.
Wear basketball shorts and a t-shirt.
Then go play basketball.
Once done, walk around the mall.
The next day, take a shower, then put on a custom-fit suit.
Wear a nice cologne.
We all have that NICE cologne.
Now walk around the mall.
Look, I don’t know you.
But I know how your body felt.
It felt bigger and more powerful in the suit.
The suit impacted psychology.
Just imagine what that suit will do to other people’s psychology.
You know, the people in the audience?
People are forgiving with speech quirks when they see the speaker took some time to look good.
Humans are visual creatures.
Leverage this human feature!
What to Wear for a Speech
I’m a simple guy.
I believe this whole post can be boiled down to a few lines:
- Wear clothes that fit.
- Iron the clothes.
- Wear a great scent.
- Comb the hair.
These 4 are the golden elements.
And then, the variables can be played around with.
From there, you can decide whether the clothes should be in a suit format or a semi-casual format.
Giving step by step of EXACTLY what to wear is not fair to the speaker.
Why?
Because each speaking opportunity has different contexts.
Speaking at a wedding is much different than speaking at a book club.
The goal is to find clothes which fit.
That’s the most important part.
Mistakes to Avoid
It’s a damn shame when a speech is great, but the speaker didn’t take much effort to polish up.
That’s like preparing for a bicycle competition for months.
To only show up on the big race day with a rusty bike.
Sad!
Some of the mistakes can be completely accidental.
One example was with a speaker I heard a couple of years back.
He had a great tonality. A musical rhythm that kept the ears and minds of the audience, hooked.
Great content in his talk.
Excellent logic.
His only problem?
His shoes kept squeaking.
And to make matters worse, he kept walking around the stage.
Had he stood still and maximized the podium, the quirk would have gone unnoticed.
But he kept moving around, getting caught in the moment.
This speaker did everything right.
But the reason his speech reduced in impact was solely due to a wardrobe malfunction.
In a case like this, hindsight is 20/20.
How many public speaking blogs are saying, ‘hey, make sure your shoes don’t squeak.’
I doubt many.
A few quirks to look out for:
- Squeaky shoes.
- A tight collar. This impacts the range of the voice.
- If you sweat a lot, avoid wearing bright clothes. No one is trying to see your pit stains.
- Spraying too much cologne.
Just like there are 4 wardrobe rules to leverage.
There are also 4 quirks to avoid.
The Night Before Preparation
‘When should I stop practicing the speech, Armani?’
A day or 2 before your talk.
By setting those 1-2 days to relax, the speaker assigns a POSITIVE perception to the speech.
Practice early & deliberately, then chill.
Cramming practice sessions of the speech to the night before simply amplifies the nerves.
And will make the speaker feel nervous, even when they have all the reasons to feel bold.
For the day or 2 before the talk, get the wardrobe ready.
Wash the clothes.
Iron them.
Try it on to make sure everything fits, and the shoes don’t squeak.
And the cologne.
Something about the cologne is deep.
If I spray a spray that you wore in the 5th-grade, then 5th-grade memories will come to your mind.
‘What does this imply?’
This implies that the spray influences feelings.
I know this is a post on wardrobe for public speaking.
But here’s a little insight.
When you are practicing the speech, put on the same cologne that you plan on wearing on speech day.
Then practice with full confidence.
This sparks the feeling of confidence when the same spray is sprayed on speech day.
That’s magic.
Judge a Book by its Cover
It’s easy to view judging a book by its cover as a form of discrimination.
But that’s not the intention.
Do not judge a person by what they can’t control.
Skin color, height, gender.
Judge a person by what they can control.
Wardrobe, scent, body posture.
Great communicators understand it’s a game of perception.
Nothing I bought up in this blog was rocket science.
On the contrary, it was highly simple.
Simple is the name of the game.
Simple takes away a lot of fluff & cuts straight to the point.
And simple helps decide what to wear for a speech.
Wardrobe is a game of common sense.
And then, putting the common sense into common practice.
The speech has been crafted.
The speech has been practiced.
It’d be a damn shame if the speaker’s hard work goes down the drain due to not judging their own book cover.
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– ArmaniTalks 
