I work with lots of Italian and French people, and am a bit obsessed with the French culture and language. I observe that the opposite holds -- fashion-conscious Europeans sometimes let their personality be defined by their fashion choices. The personality, whatever that means, is secondary. Not to say that they are superficial at all, but rather that looks and presentation are so important to them (not a bad thing!) that it becomes a bigger part of who you are.
For example just today -- an Italian colleague struck up a conversation with me while we were grabbing coffee in the kitchen. He was wearing a blazer, nice dress pants and nice shoes. I was wearing jeans, hoodie, t-shirt. He asked me what cologne I like, and literally fanned the scent from his neck onto me, so I could smell his good taste in fragrance. His cologne did smell really good, but I was still jarred by the whole experience.
>I work with lots of Italian and French people, and am a bit obsessed with the French culture and language. I observe that the opposite holds -- fashion-conscious Europeans sometimes let their personality be defined by their fashion choices. The personality, whatever that means, is secondary.
That might be, but I wasn't saying that they put personality first above appearance.
What I said is that appearance matters to them, but not in the "is he/she wearing the latest fashion items" sense, but that they (also) appreciate a deeper "does the attire reflect an aesthetic choice/strong personality" (as opposed to someone merely wearing whatever he threw on himself or whatever everybody wears).
In other words, that they might be for fashion, but they would respect opinionated attire -- such like Jobs.
In that it shows some effort and respect for the other's eyes, plus some sense of aesthetics (the looks as in "presentation", not as in being naturally good looking).
>I don't think the saying is "judge a book by its cover"
Well, that's deprecated advice. It hold true when it was created in 19th early 20th century, when books all had the same leather bound cover or bland design.
The last 30+ years books have tons of information on their cover, including awards the book has won, short reviews, recommendations, a summary, and even a small bio of the author in some cases. You are supposed to judge them by their cover -- that's how you pick them in the bookstore.
I've never picked a modern book by its cover because it's a facade that the author/publisher decorates to manipulate you into thinking something. The same applies to putting so much emphasis on looks, it just opens you up to being lied to.
As the sibling comment identifies, you read reviews of trusted people or the masses.
Ironically the authors I've spoken to are often upset that the cover is chosen entirely for marketing purposes and often has little to do with the contents of the book. Things like choosing a cover model of different race and sometimes even gender from the protagonist(s) of the book.
I work with lots of Italian and French people, and am a bit obsessed with the French culture and language. I observe that the opposite holds -- fashion-conscious Europeans sometimes let their personality be defined by their fashion choices. The personality, whatever that means, is secondary. Not to say that they are superficial at all, but rather that looks and presentation are so important to them (not a bad thing!) that it becomes a bigger part of who you are.
For example just today -- an Italian colleague struck up a conversation with me while we were grabbing coffee in the kitchen. He was wearing a blazer, nice dress pants and nice shoes. I was wearing jeans, hoodie, t-shirt. He asked me what cologne I like, and literally fanned the scent from his neck onto me, so I could smell his good taste in fragrance. His cologne did smell really good, but I was still jarred by the whole experience.