<p>I didn’t want to take another thread (about preppy in the parent forum) off tangent so I thought I’d start it here. This really caught my eye! I had NO IDEA how much people cared about fashion when judging professionals. These were the two posts that drew my attention:</p>
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<p>I actually get how it matters to judge professionals in architecture or design based on their fashion sense because having a good sense of visual style must be important to their expertise. And no doubt I’m biased to think some people should ‘look the part’ and we probably have implicit ideas about what a prototypical doctor, lawyer, landscaper, artist, dentist should look like. </p>
<p>But choosing a doctor on the basis of their outfit seems strange to me. Conservative or not, sure, but “well put together package”? I don’t see the connection between attention to fashion detail and making professional medical judgments. In fact, it might be inversely related: someone spending a lot of mental time on superficial stuff like outfits in the morning might be at the expense of reading the latest medical journal findings or spending time with their patients on rounds at the hospital. When I’m <em>really</em> hyper-involved my work and at my best professionally, things like shopping, getting my car washed, or keeping up my house go by the wayside. </p>
<p>What about you? How much weight do you put on someone’s fashion sense when choosing a professional?</p>
<p>starbright, ever watch what not to wear? they’re always explaining to people of all professions why they should look better. If you’re a doctor going to work in sweats every day, people just aren’t going to take you very seriously. If you present yourself well people tend to trust you more.</p>
<p>wouldn’t our ability to judge someone based on " their fashion sense" have a lot to do with our own expertise in that area?
Generally docs have lab coats on- but I can’t say I have ever really noticed what they wear.
I had one doc, who dressed a little more stylishly than other clinicians, fashionable pumps & so on, but she wasn’t that great of a doc & I have switched.</p>
<p>The best doc our family has had, dressed like a grad student/prof/Peter Falk.</p>
<p>Fashion sense does not equate to wearing sweat pants while conducting medical appointments. It comes down to wearing a rather generic $50 pair of black leather loafers, vs wearing say… $500 italian leather shoes. That, or wearing $600 Japanese Dry denim that hasn’t been washed in months (ever, actually) or wearing $20 “Arizona” jeans that were freshly washed before being worn that day.</p>
<p>I’d take a doctor wearing payless shoes and a clean and decent looking outfit over a dirty doctor wearing $600 jeans he’s never washed, any day of the week. XD</p>
<p>wwlink gets loads of credit if he/she can tell if a physician has or has not washed their jeans in months. </p>
<p>I expect my doctor to look appropriate, i.e., in scrubs or wearing clean, appropriate clothing. Outside of the medical profession, again, I’m fairly hard to disappoint, but clothing should fit well and be reasonably conservative - nothing outrageous or too fashion forward.</p>
<p>Parent1986- yeah I agree. But it’s not a need, it is simply killing time until America’s Got Talent starts :)</p>
<p>I guess it depends on what one means by ‘fashion sense’. I’m all for looking clean and tidy, professional. But I can’t imagine judging a hired professional (other than of course those who should have good aethetic taste for their area of expertise) based on what labels they are wearing or how smart their outfit appears. </p>
<p>I will admit I’m biased though. As a professor, I am surrounded by a sea of people that don’t know how to dress. But I like that I’m judged by my ideas and publications, and not by the expense of my wardrobe.</p>
<p>The only thing I care about in a doctor is clean hands with clean, short fingernails. I’ve never seen a doctor who was dressed so inappropriately that i would notice it. Most (male) doctors have no fashion sense anyway.</p>
<p>If you judge people on how well they are dressed then you are going to set yourself up to be fooled.
H is a costumer and has spent an inordinate amount of time making complete morons look fabulous. As much as both of us know about clothing, we are the last people to make judgements on someones ability based on their fashion sense.</p>
<p>Because putting together a good outfit “should” not really take up that much mental time…or at least that, they have so much mental ability, that they can do both that and be a successful doctor. I think that’s kind of the idea…
Like, people think if they can’t even dress themselves well (something “simple-minded”), how can they be a doctor?</p>
<p>Also, perhaps, some kind of connection to how rich they are based on how successful of a doctor they are would lead the mind to think, more rich looking doctors = more successful, so they have more money to buy those clothes?
In general, more wealthy ppl do tend to be more conscious of appearance/presentation, =attentive, current, not someone who hides in a room with no light and only comes out once in a while to be a doctor, etc.</p>
<p>That’s just what I think goes through peoples minds, not necessarily my opinion.</p>
<p>So much of this depends on the community expectations. </p>
<p>I work with a very dear immigrant cardiologist. Her shoe choice is awkward and utilitarian, and I know she cares far more about her young daughter’s footwear than her own. I long to take her shoe shopping for something that will make her long, stressful days more comfortable. Should her excellent cardiology skills be judged by those run down shoes? No way.</p>
<p>Fashion is a subjective, personal choice with no universal objective standard. Medical procedures are standardized and objective (in the ideal, at least). Who am I to question the medical school who gave the degree, hospital that trained them, and board that certified them, merely because I don’t like the color of their shoes?</p>
<p>Honestly, the level of [snobbery/inanity/idiocy] displayed by this view is astounding.</p>
<p>One of the most caring docs I have ever known mostly wears scrubs and her lab coat. She’s the best allergist in our state. The best doc I know wears a lab coat over conservative clothing and when he speaks at conferences just a regular suit. He’s respected the world over and I have never heard anything said or written about his clothing or fashion sense. </p>
<p>On the other hand, when our firm used to win cases and poll the jury, they’d often make remarks about how nicely polished our firm’s shoes were! Sheesh, we thought it was our fabulous legal arguments that won the cases!</p>
<p>I admit I am put off by people who wear sloppy-looking baggy clothing or things that look like they should be at the beach rather than professional attire (too low, too tight, too transparent) for business attire. Other than that, I don’t much notice. I try not to let that affect my interaction with the individuals, as they often are bright and interesting even tho I feel their fashion sense is even worse than mine. :)</p>
<p>My father’s cardiologist dresses impeccably - Italian suits, custom shirts, beautiful shoes. He’s also a very good doctor. I enjoy seeing well dressed and groomed people, and I appreciate the care and attention to detail that goes into looking great. However, many people are not interested in such things - clothing is not something they care about, other than being clean and reasonably appropriate. That’s fine too. </p>
<p>It is a very poor idea to judge people based on their clothing or on the car they drive, for that matter.</p>
<p>Honestly, I don’t care how they dress. We have had doctors who we don’t feel were good at all who dresssed very well. We have had others that were not “so well groomed” and were fabulous. I do take inventory on how clean their offices look. I don’t like to see a physician that has what I consider an unclean office. I realize that I could pick up an infection in a pretty sterile office if the person who visited before me left their germs behind. I try not to touch anything these environments for that reason (ie: I complete forms with my own pens and I hate holding onto the clipboard that every patient touches). It is for that reason that I carry hand sanitizer with me. I also want to see a physician wash their hands in front of me, and if they are using equipment that they use on others, I would prefer to see them clean it in front of me (ie: the object one holds to cover one eye during an eye exam).</p>
mousegray, you must know my husband! Actually, he has somewhat gotten around the issue of what to wear to work by wearing a pair of khaki pants, a long-sleeved blue shirt, and a bow tie every day. Every day. He has perhaps 15-20 blue shirts and pairs of pants in his closet and actually labels the pants with the date he bought them so he knows which ones to send to the Rescue Mission first. Please don’t get me started on his shoes.</p>
<p>He does have a staggering array of bow ties. He orders them online and chooses patterns that he thinks his patients (he’s a pediatrician) will find momentarily interesting. I never thought about the potential infection hazard in MDs’ ties or even white coats - though a bow tie is less likely to get in a doctor’s way when he’s doing an exam.</p>
<p>I never notice what my MDs/dentist/NPs are wearing (and I hope they extend the same courtesy to me). If a specialist was too well-dressed, I’d probably think he was overcharging.</p>
Actually, he has somewhat gotten around the issue of what to wear to work by wearing a pair of khaki pants, a long-sleeved blue shirt, and a bow tie every day. Every day. He has perhaps 15-20 blue shirts and pairs of pants in his closet and actually labels the pants with the date he bought them so he knows which ones to send to the Rescue Mission first. Please don’t get me started on his shoes.</p>
If a specialist was too well-dressed, I’d probably think he was overcharging.</p>