Can you imagine what you wear can reveal a story about you?

Recent research shows that you can tell a lot about someone's personality, politics, status, age and income just from looking at a photo of their shoes or clothes. Did you ever notice that when former US president Barack Obama addressed a crowd of working class Americans, he would speak with no jacket and his sleeves rolled up? That silently and instantly communicated to the audience that he too was a hard worker.

When you're dressing or grooming, consider what it says about you and whether it's in line with the message you want to communicate. There's no right or wrong. It's all about context（情景）. A tie can make you look reliable and rooted in tradition. This might be important at an investment firm, where clients want to know that you're serious about managing their capital, a formal party like meeting the elders or even a wedding ceremony. But it can also come off as stuffy（刻板的）and resistant to change, which may be inappropriate for a newly-built tech company.

Of course, dressing smart is also important for your confidence and sense of self-empowerment. But your style does more than just send messages, to your mind or to others. New research shows it actually impacts how you think. Professional dress, one study found, increases abstract thinking and gives people a broader perspective. So that tie might actually be switching on your creativity button. "The formality（正式）of clothing might not only influence the way others perceive a person, and how people perceive themselves, but also could influence decision making in important ways through its influence on processing style," the study says. Professional clothes create social distance. When we are more socially distant, we tend to think in more distant, abstract terms.

Taking intentional command of how you dress and present is a good step in empowering yourself, accomplishing your goals, and living a more lucid life at the helm of your decisions. So pay attention!