“Clothes make the man. Naked people have little or no influence on society.”

– Mark Twain

The very idea of dressing like a billionaire is implausible to the point of being silly. Billionaires, after all, are not generally thought of as being particularly well dressed.

Warren Buffett, for example. He wears suits that seem to be bought off the rack at some Omaha discount store. His glasses say “These babies work!” His most prominent stylistic feature is the incredible growth that is his eyebrows.

Still, he doesn’t look all that bad. He looks like a rich guy who is comfortable dressing like a working-class joe. And that’s the image he wants to project. So good for him.

Steve Jobs was even more challenged when it came to dressing. His sartorial choices left him looking confused. Was he a boy or a man? Was he a visionary or a geek?

So why should you want to dress like a billionaire? The answer is that you shouldn’t. Your goal should be to dress well – really well – as well as you could if money were no object.

And, you will be happy to know, you can do that without spending a lot of money.

Why Bother?

If you have a billion dollars, you can dress like Warren Buffett and people will still respect and admire you. But if you have ordinary wealth (that is to say, not a lot), dressing well has its advantages.

First and foremost, dressing well makes you look better. If you are chubby, it makes you look slimmer. If you are short, it makes you look taller. If you are tall and thin – hell, if you are tall and thin (and young), you look good in anything. You can skip the rest of this.

Except that dressing well often makes you feel good. For me, what I put on in the morning has a lot to do with the way I feel about myself when I wake up. If I am full of energy and enthusiasm about the day, I take a bit of time to select clothes that please me. If I’m feeling down on myself for whatever reason, I select clothes that make me feel dumpy. (Why do I still have such clothes in my closet? Good question. I’m working on getting rid of them…)