I’ve said this before, and I’m saying it again… What we wear makes a tremendous impact on how others perceive us. This point was proven in spades this week with President Obama and his #TanSuit which exploded over Twitter yesterday – to the tune of over 14,000 tweets at the time of writing this blog! Here’s a few that stood out:

From being compared to an insurance salesman to the creation of parody accounts @BarackTanSuit, @ObamaTanSuit and @Obamas_Tan_Suit within 10 minutes of his speaking, Obama’s choice to wear the light-coloured suit while discussing the military conflicts in Iraq, Syria, and Ukraine underminded the seriousness of the subject matter. Twiterverse’s reaction to the tan suit is now the subject of much discussion with media outlets such as CNN, Time and the Washington Post.

While funny, these comments are a strong reminder that the suit really can ‘make the man’ and what we wear matters. The impact of Obama’s message was overshadowed by his tan suit. Here’s something for you to consider the next time you are getting dressed: If the President of the United States’ message got lost among the tan suit chatter, how will your message fair?