How Clothes can Create a First Impression
By Rhianydd Sword
Welcome Freshers! I hope that you’re all settling in and getting used to what will be your new home for the next academic year. As I was only just a fresher myself last year, I’m all too familiar with the utter craziness of freshers week. There’s tons of things to do and different places to go, not to mention getting used to the freedom of being able to drink on Mondays, whilst having to do your own laundry on Wednesdays.
Freshers week is also about meeting new people and it can be easy to worry about creating a good first impression. Just don’t worry too much, for opinions and thoughts often change. If you want an example of this, I melted a tray on my first night at university and I became known as a bad cook who shouldn’t even be close to an oven. In time, this changed, and my flat mates altered their opinions after seeing that I did have some cooking skills, albeit limited ones.
Nevertheless, this is the fashion section so whilst it’s fun to admit to my cooking mishaps, I want to talk about how an outfit can play into a first impression. Our clothing choices are a way for us to introduce ourselves without having to say anything. It’s a chance for people to initially see who we are and then make a rash judgement. Knowing this, it sometimes becomes easy to overthink our wardrobe choices. Finding the perfect top to wear may become as vital as knowing whether to say ‘hi’ or ‘hello’. Except these things really aren’t as important as they may seem, like I said opinions often change. When it comes to our outfit choice, we need to remember to dress for ourselves and not for others. The perfect top that we were so worried about isn’t the item that others like but the one that we feel the most ourselves in. Fashion has a different meaning for everybody but ultimately, it’s about being comfortable in yourself, so wear what you feel the best in. By doing this, people will be able to see you for who you are and that’s the best impression you can create.
This year has been a strange one with a lot of uncertainty. Whilst we mustn’t forget our safety, the beginning of university is a time to start afresh and have some fun. I’d like to take the opportunity to say well done for making it to Swansea University. I’d also like to add that if I was to give one piece of advice for this year, it would be to bring a jacket with you at all times. When it’s two in the morning, you’re tired and you’ve one too many vodka shots in your system, you’ll be all too glad for that much needed warmth and comfort a jacket will give you. It might not seem like such a big deal now but trust me it’s a life saver.
