Shortly before the opening day of the most important tournament in the history of the world unveiled itself, someone sent me this pic of the England team versus the Italian team, as they disembarked from their long flight to Brazil (I hope you guys picked up that I’m talking about the World Cup).



Okay what do you notice here? First off, one team looks like they want to be there more than the other. And that is just based on how they are dressed.

Throughout this blog I try to give a sense of perspective that is not common on fashion or fitness blogs: a holistic and contextual view of why you should care about what you put on your body and how you should take care of your body. I was just lucky enough to have such a juicy example.

These two teams are in the same group and they played each other first. Can you guess who won that match? Was it the slickly-suited Italians or the lazily-garbed English? Judge from the clothes and you would be correct.

But Erica, you say, do you honestly think that clothes made England lose that match? Nope, but I do think that clothes say something about you before you can say anything about yourself. Look again at the above photo: the Italians look relaxed, confident, self-assured (probably joking about how they’re going to beat England, but I digress), whereas the English look a bit anxious, as if their thoughts are wearing them down (thoughts like, how are we going to finally beat Italy?). I would say the team that has confidence will fare better than the team that is anxious.

But Erica, you say, it’s difficult to be on a long flight in nice clothes, and I’d rather be comfortable. Fair enough, but how comfortable are polyester track pants when it sticks to your skin due to sweat? And how sweaty will you be in a heavy cotton polo shirt that is three sizes too big? Are you using it as a blanket because Air Canada got cheap and started to nickel-and-dime you on in-flight “extras” (apparently, in Air Canada’s world sleeping is a luxury only afforded to the select few. They must be channelling Dickens’ Britain. Again, I digress). Contrast those fabrics with lighter, airier, breathable fabrics, in cuts that make you wish your soul were drenched in sartorial greatness.

You don’t have to tell us you don’t care about the way you look, we already know.

You have to know the rules to break the rules.

Source: Quartz