If you’ve ever seen a reality television makeover show (from The Biggest Loser to What Not to Wear), you know that many people wish to alter their appearance to elicit positive changes in their personal and professional lives. Although what you wear—or the way you fix your hair or makeup—may not speak directly to your abilities or define you as a person, it communicates messages about you nonetheless. In fact, the initial impression your appearance makes may affect your future interactions with others (DeKay, 2009).

Most people in Western society are well aware of the significance of appearance. Research shows that society affords attractive people certain advantages. For instance, attractive students receive more interaction from their teachers (Richmond et al., 1991), and “good-looking” job candidates have a greater chance of being hired (Molloy, 1983; Shannon & Stark, 2003). Jurors find attractive defendants innocent more often (Efran, 1974), although discussion and deliberation can mitigate this bias (Patry, 2008). Appearance affects not only perceptions of attractiveness but also judgments about a person’s background, character, personality, status, and future behavior (Guerrero & Floyd, 2006).

Perceptions about appearance and attractiveness are inferred not only from physical characteristics like body shape and size, facial features, skin color, height, and hair color but also from the clothing you wear, which can reveal quite a bit about your status, economic level, social background, goals, and satisfaction (Crane, 2000). In fact, your clothing choice can also speak to your communication intentions. When Queen Elizabeth II became the first British monarch to visit the Irish Republic after decades of discord, she wore a suit in emerald green, the proud color of the Emerald Isle. Clearly her choice signaled a hoped-for reconciliation (Dowd, 2012).

We also infer a great deal of meaning from artifacts—accessories carried or used on the body for decoration or identification. For example, the expensive Rolex watch that your uncle wears sends a very different message about wealth and status than a ten-dollar watch would. Other artifacts, such as briefcases, tattoos, earrings, nose rings, nail polish, and engagement and wedding rings, also convey messages about your relational status, your gender, and even how willing you are to defy conventions. Tattoos, for example, send a variety of messages. Some descendants of Holocaust survivors inscribe the concentration camp identification numbers of their ancestors onto their forearms to communicate their desire to remember their relatives and never forget the atrocities perpetuated by the Nazi regime (Rudoren, 2012). On a lighter note, research finds that men view a butterfly tattoo on the back of a sunbathing woman as a sign that she may be receptive to his romantic overtures (Guéguen, 2012).

Remember that perceptions of artifacts (and physical appearance in general) can change over time. To illustrate, when the late British politician Margaret Thatcher carried a handbag, it was at first perceived as a sign of weakness, but with her rise to prime minister, the handbag came to be a symbol of tremendous power (Givhan, 2013).