The power is not only exercised: it also dresses. And in 2025, more than ever, personal aesthetics says what was not yet pronounced, but that the others already interpreted.
The image ceased to be an accessory. Today is strategy. From the choice of blazer to lip color, from haircut to the choice of footwear: everything communicates. Men, women and diversities are observed (and read) at the speed of a scroll. In a hyper visual world, what is shown before speaking can confirm – or sabotage – the main message.
Neuroscience studies indicate that a visual impression is formed in less than 7 seconds, and that more than 80% of that perception is determined by nonverbal signals. What is seen, how it walks, what gesture is done: everything matters.
The clothing, understood as what is chosen to dress, acts as a powerful message. Anticipate, define and represent. It is deeply linked to identity and what you want to express without the need for words. Choosing what to wear should not be an automatic act, but a conscious construction. Dressing with intention is to build a visual speech. The question is no longer just “What do I like?”, But “What am I communicating with this?” and “Is this message consistent with what I represent?”
The history of fashion demonstrates the symbolic weight of clothing. From the royal mantles to the post -war tailor suits, through the uniforms, the wide wing hats or the shirts with slogans in the 60s, the clothes always functioned as a political, social, economic and emotional code. Roland Barthes, in The fashion systemdefined the dress like “A language with its own grammar”. And like all language, it demands coherence, tone and own style.
It is not about responding to an external ideal or fitting. It is about projecting coherence between what you are, what is done and how it appears before the world. Well worked aesthetics is not a costume: it is a frame. The key is to know what is the message to be transmitted and in building its realization through the garments. Textures, colors, cuts and combinations are choices that make up a narrative. When the style is well defined, speak for itself.
Coco Chanel said it lucidity decades ago: “You wear vulgar and you will only see the dress. You wear elegant and see the woman.” That phrase can extend today to all genres: when a person finds his style, he makes it a language. The style is not fashion; It is identity in motion.
In 2025, power dresses with new keys. The rigidity of the classic executive uniform is left behind. The visual leadership codes are diversified, are flexible, reinterpret. Leaders like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, that transforms makeup and clothing into a political tool, or Emmanuel Macronthat takes care of each appearance as an aesthetic setting, understand that the image is also speech. It is not an ornament, it is part of the script.
The male visual language is also in transformation. From the rigid tie to the most relaxed costumes, from the shirt closed to the use of noble materials with more personal imprint. Women, meanwhile, bet on powerful and comfortable silhouettes that make up strength and sensitivity. The common: power is no longer imposed, communicates.
In Chaos engineers, Giuliano da Empoli He warns how aesthetics and visual story were key even in contemporary political manipulation strategies. The image of a leader has the ability to activate emotion, identification or rejection long before a word is heard.
*Depresbítero Soledad is an expert public relations in Personal Branding.
By loneliness depresbítero
