Clothing Impressions

I was looking at some photos from an independent Baptist youth camp and was struck with sudden terror.

“Is that what my clothing makes me look like?” I wondered.

I thought back to my mid-teenage years, when my clothing “style” was at its most “independent Baptist.” I’m sure I was quite a sight in the preppy high school I attended for a couple of classes. In sharp contrast to the jeans and barely there tops my classmates were sporting, I wore formless mid-calf-length skirts and equally formless t-shirts. Bleh!

A fellow hall-wanderer once approached me to ask a personal question. “I hope you’re not offended, but I was just wondering…What religion are you?”

I answered briefly, said that I was a Christian. She gave a hmm and mentioned something about the way I dressed. I don’t remember exactly what I said, except to say that the way I dressed had nothing to do with my religion.

Later that year, I saw that same girl walking through the halls wearing an Islamic head scarf–and I wondered if I’d missed my chance. Clearly, she had been searching for an identity–and thought she’d found it in Islam. But what if I’d better used that opening question and her comment about my clothing? What if I’d used that opening as an opportunity to share with her about an identity that goes far deeper than the clothes we wear–an identity that can only be found in Jesus Christ? I still regret not taking that opportunity–and whenever I think of it, I pray for that girl, wherever she is.

It’s amazing how powerfully clothing can influence people’s perceptions.

Looking at the independent Baptist pictures, I worried that my clothing might make people perceive me as such. I do, after all, have very long hair and more than my share of below-the-knee skirts.

See for yourself: Me at my independent Baptist best.

Then again, I also wear shorter skirts:

And sometimes I wear pants:

And then there are those times when I completely defy stereotypes:

So tell me–what do YOU think my clothing says about me? What about yourself–have you ever had someone comment on your clothing and the impressions they have of you based on your clothing?