About the Power of Clothing

In essence, Dapper Love Soul was birthed in its first iteration roughly 20 years ago. I was an outreach worker at a small non-profit in Syracuse, NY and my job was to engage teens and young adults 16-21 years of age and help them reach their goals.

Most of the young men I approached wanted jobs at the mall because that’s where “the money, the girls, and the sneakers are.” So I told them I would help them get a job there if they were willing to dress up. Reluctantly, they agreed. So we went to the thrift store and bought them each a suit and some nice shoes, and off to the mall we went. What happened next changed the course of my life:

At first when we entered the mall, I was walking beside young men who felt awkward in their new attire. (They had never worn a suit before.) And then, time and time again, they would begin to raise their head and shoulders. They began smiling. They began exuding confidence. After the third time I witnessed this shift I started looking for the cause, and what I realized was that most of these young men had never been treated like a positive member of society before. That day in the mall, they understood for the first time that it wasn’t them, it was their clothing that was causing a negative reaction – and they had the power to change the way people treated them simply by changing how they dressed.

For many of these young men, it was the first positive experience of their own power that they had ever had.

As a consultant, I knew how hard my clients had to work to make strides in their health, relationships, finances, etc. And here I was watching young men come alive right before my eyes, shifting in a moment. It moved me so deeply that I began researching everything I could about clothing, because I had seen its deeper power.

Clothing is more than a superficial garment you put on your body.

Your clothing is a sacred expression of who you are.

It is powerful. It is your “second skin.” It is an instrumental piece of the fabric that weaves your gifts into your life. It declares who you are and why you are to the world around you. And in doing so, it illuminates your Truth and attracts the people, places, and things that are meant to be called into your life to help you manifest your greatness into reality.

This is the ultimate goal of Dapper Love Soul – to bring out the unique sacred expression that is YOU.