The Appearance Of Power

Power has an appearance and appearance has power. Ideally those two would line up together and the world would be full of good, masculine men who dress and look like good masculine men. But all too often, reality is something different. There are good men and strong leaders out there who dress and look like children or bums. There are awful, lazy men in the world who dress in a way that hides their vices from those around them and makes them appear better than they truly are. In an attempt to correct for these disparities, our current culture tries to rob both appearance of its power and power of its appearance - to say that the way a person dresses or looks doesn't - or at least shouldn't matter. We're given platitudes like, "don't judge a book by its cover" and there's a often a cultural rush to prove ourselves as non-judgmental as we can. But a man's appearance has been an integral part of humanity since before the dawn of civilization. As human beings we use mental shortcuts when assessing our surroundings and the people within them. It is inefficient and dangerous to treat every object, scenario, and person as a blank slate or an unknown. And, because it is our tendency to judge according to visual stimuli, we use physicality, body language, grooming, and clothing to quickly and effectively communicate who we are and how we want other people to perceive us. Some men dress to appear more physically threatening, others to convey status and power within social spheres, some attempt to fit in and not draw attention to themselves, and others will use their clothing to show their disdain for the social norms around them. Regardless of what your intentions are, your clothing says something about you. And no, this doesn't just apply to you, but to every man who has ever interacted with another human being. From the ancient shaman, to the Wall Street banker, the Pope to the gutter punk, all men use clothing and appearance to tell the world who we are. Which means it's worthwhile for you to understand how to use this tool effectively. The purpose of this book is to outline the underlying principles of how clothing affects men and masculinity. Understanding and applying those principles will take you far beyond looking like you've been dressed by an image consultant, in one of his five variations of acceptable clothing, and into the realm of being well-dressed all the time.

There is a saying that beauty is in the eye of the beholder, implying that beauty is subjective. But can it be said that 'better looking' people have more social power? This book provides a fascinating insight into the social stratification of people based on looks - the artificial placement of people into greater and lesser power strata based on physical appearance. The author analyzes different aspects of physical appearance such as faces, breasts, eye shapes, height and weight as they are related to social power and inequality. For example, tall people are often associated with power, with tall people being seen publicly as more capable and thus more deserving of power than shorter people. The author moreover assesses how people's physical appearance affects their chances of marriage, employment, education, and other social and economic opportunities. The book contributes to and differentiates itself from current literature by emphasizing sociological theory - including constructionism and critical theory - and research to understand the phenomenon of social aesthetics, a term coined by the author to refer to the social reaction to physical appearance.

Did you know a first impression is made in a fraction of a second before eye contact or words are spoken? Being hired and being passed over for promotion can easily have roots in first impressions. Your appearance determines your first impression. Non-verbal communication plays such a role in how you are valued in the group, yet it's rarely discussed or taught.This book has two parts: The Story and The Science. It combines the psychology of how to dress for an audience and is supported by over 40 social psych studies. It solves the puzzle of how to dress your personal best. Aesthetic rules derived from cultural experience are in play at all times whether aware or not. The reader learns along with the main character in The Story, how to apply both by using fashion stylist tools. Appearance power is like anything else when you know how to do it, it's easy!

Shortlisted for the 2008 Katharine Briggs Award. For centuries the witch has been a powerful figure in the European imagination; but the creation of this figure has been hidden from our view. Charles Zika’s groundbreaking study investigates how the visual image of the witch was created in late fifteenth- and sixteenth-century Europe. He charts the development of the witch as a new visual subject, showing how the traditional imagery of magic and sorcery of medieval Europe was transformed into the sensationalist depictions of witches in the pamphlets and prints of the sixteenth century. This book shows how artists and printers across the period developed key visual codes for witchcraft, such as the cauldron and the riding of animals. It demonstrates how influential these were in creating a new iconography for representing witchcraft incorporating themes such as the power of female sexuality, male fantasy, moral reform, divine providence and punishment, the superstitions of non-Christian peoples and the cannibalism of the new world. Lavishly illustrated and encompassing in its approach, The Appearance of Witchcraft is the first systematic study of the visual representation of witchcraft in the later fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. It will give the reader a unique insight into how the image of the witch evolved in the early modern world.

Fashion and beauty have helped shape history and today more than ever, we find ourselves under increasing pressure to think about what we wear, what we look good in and how best to enhance our body shape and size. Behind this seemingly superficial industry, however, lies a technical thinking firmly grounded in science and technology. In one fully comprehensive book, Clothing appearance and fit: Science and technology provides a critical appreciation of the technological developments and scientific understanding of the appearance and fit of clothing. The authors bridge the science of beauty and fashion design with garment evaluation technology, garment drape and human anthropometrics and sizing. The ten chapters of the book provide a detailed coverage of clothing appearance and fit. Chapter 1 considers body attractiveness and how it relates to clothing material and design parameters and discusses classical and contemporary theories of beauty. Chapters 2 and 3 present the industry’s techniques, methods and standards for assessing clothing appearance and fit and Chapters 4 and 5 review the research and development of objective measurement technologies for evaluating clothing appearance and fit. Fabric objective measurement, fabric properties and garment drape are covered in Chapters 6 and 7 and the R & D of body measurement, anthropometrics and sizing systems are detailed in Chapters 8 and 9. The final chapter reviews published work on garment design and pattern alteration for achieving good clothing appearance and fit. This book is an essential reference for researchers, academics, professionals and students in clothing and textile academia and industry. It includes many industrial standards, techniques and practices. Offers a critical appreciation of technological developments Incorporates user-friendly illustrations and photographs Valuable reference for students, researchers and professionals in the clothing and textile industries

This book tackles the charged and frequently painful subject of how appearance affects social interaction and the role of larger social structures in perpetuating and institutionalizing it as an evaluative criterion.

Amoral, cunning, ruthless, and instructive, this multi-million-copy New York Times bestseller is the definitive manual for anyone interested in gaining, observing, or defending against ultimate control – from the author of The Laws of Human Nature. In the book that People magazine proclaimed “beguiling” and “fascinating,” Robert Greene and Joost Elffers have distilled three thousand years of the history of power into 48 essential laws by drawing from the philosophies of Machiavelli, Sun Tzu, and Carl Von Clausewitz and also from the lives of figures ranging from Henry Kissinger to P.T. Barnum. Some laws teach the need for prudence (“Law 1: Never Outshine the Master”), others teach the value of confidence (“Law 28: Enter Action with Boldness”), and many recommend absolute self-preservation (“Law 15: Crush Your Enemy Totally”). Every law, though, has one thing in common: an interest in total domination. In a bold and arresting two-color package, The 48 Laws of Power is ideal whether your aim is conquest, self-defense, or simply to understand the rules of the game.

“Although many of the iconographic traditions in Byzantine art formed in the early centuries of Christianity, they were not petrified within a time warp. Subtle changes and refinements in Byzantine theology did find reflection in changes to the iconographic and stylistic conventions of Byzantine art. This is a brilliant and innovative book in which Dr Anita Strezova argues that a religious movement called Hesychasm, especially as espoused by the great Athonite monk St Gregory Palamas, had a profound impact on the iconography and style of Byzantine art, including that of the Slav diaspora, of the late Byzantine period. While many have been attracted to speculate on such a connection, none until now has embarked on proving such a nexus. The main stumbling blocks have included the need for a comprehensive knowledge of Byzantine theology; a training in art history, especially iconological, semiotic and formalist methodologies; extensive fieldwork in Macedonia, Bulgaria, Serbia, Greece, Turkey and Russia, and a working knowledge of Greek, Old Church Slavonic, Macedonian, Russian, Serbian, Latin as well as several modern European languages, French, German, Russian and Italian. These are some of the skills which Dr Strezova has brought to her topic.” Professor Sasha Grishin AM, FAHA Adjunct Professor of Art History School of Literature, Languages and Linguistics The Australian National University