What does the first day of school mean to students? Is it making new friends or seeing your old ones? Maybe it’s people’s schedules that drum up excitement. Personally, first day impressions are what matters most to me, and that includes how I look.
Like me, many others also value how they look on the first day. But why? Why do we care about how we look on a day to day basis? Is it natural human instinct to worry about small imperfections in our face, or even the type of clothes we wear?
My first lead to dive deeper on this topic was to talk to somebody who knows the ins and outs of the human mind. Oman Frame, teacher and DEIB coordinator at Paideia says, “You never get a second chance to make a first impression.”
This stuck out to me because of how true it was. You only get one chance to make a first impression, and I think that so many people value that moment. Whether it’s wearing an outfit to impress your friends or trying not to mess up your biology presentation, as humans we want to make our first impression the best impression. Frame feels that our reasoning for this revolves around “the want for all of us to be seen.”
Historically, humans have always sought approval for their appearance and actions, but is this behavior good for our health? “I think that it’s good to have a balance,” Frame says. He explained that worrying too much can have an effect on your mental health and self-image, but it is still important to be self aware.
I’ve always struggled to find my fashion calling, or a hairstyle that I preferred, hence why I was so eager to write this article. I wanted to see if this issue was important to other people, so I conducted a survey: out of 34 students, 31 said first day outfits do matter and three said that they don’t. Given this information, it was logical for me to assume that the majority of Paideia’s student population cares about their personal appearances.
Emotionally, how do we feel when somebody compliments our outfit? Normally we get a boost in our mood and ego; to me it’s like a natural high. When you feel good about yourself, your mind feels good and your mood is positive. I think it’s important to give other people compliments, because it makes them feel good about themselves at a time when they can have self doubt about their appearance.
