Class or Bling? Jewellery Can Win Friends and Influence People.

We form an opinion about someone within the first tenth of a second of meeting them. Clothes, shoes, even jewellery, are picked up in the blink of an eye. Beyond the surface factors, come the next level of signals that are also vital to that first impression: body language, eye contact, and tone of voice etc. However, it’s the way that these two elements work together that is the real key to making a good first impression; if the new shoes don’t ‘match’ your smile, this will be (discretely) picked up.

It might seem like a lot of fuss about nothing, but the old adage ‘first impressions do count’ really is true. This is because of what’s known as the ‘halo’ effect. In the mere moment that it takes for someone to form an impression about you there follows a ripple of associated ideas and opinions. For example, if they see you as outgoing, there will follow a perception that you are also confident, intelligent, reliable etc. Similarly, if you’re perceived as flashy in that first flash, there follows a negative series of assumptions: dishonest, unreliable, argumentative etc. Armed with this information, it’s not too difficult to learn how to use the ‘halo’ effect to your advantage and dazzle every new person that you meet.

Simple ways to work your ‘halo’ when you meet someone are to smile and make eye contact. But, what about clothes? Surely, in today’s world of fashion magazine saturation, it’s easy for anyone to ‘create’ an image with clothes. Follow the ‘rules’ and you could copy someone or some style that you’ve always longed to be and use that image to magnify a positive halo.

There are obvious problems with this approach, a style or outfit copied from a magazine could simply leave you looking like a generic carbon copy – sending out the impression that you are unoriginal. More likely is that you’ll simply feel awkward, which will never create a confident spring in your step. Besides, even when do find an outfit you love, you can’t wear it every day on the off chance of meeting someone new!

One small detail that can often be overlooked is jewellery. Unlike clothes, if you find the right jewellery you can wear it everyday. Diamonds can become girl’s ‘best friend’ since wearing real (or fake) rocks often signifies an image of glamour and confidence. Choose pearls to look sophisticated, or gold to appear successful. If you want to express the quirky, or creative, aspect of your personality go for bold, funky ‘statement’ jewellery. As an added bonus, it’s far easier to ‘play’ with these ideas on a daily basis, or, to remove jewellery if our mood changes. It is worth remembering though, that – unless you’re an established R&B star – too much ‘bling’ says Pat Butcher, rather than sophisticate.

However, wearing the right jewellery and the right smile really does help to create that extra twinkle and spark needed to win friends and influence people.

Sarah Maple used dealtime.co.uk and uk.shopping.com to find the best prices for jewellery.