Kleider machen Leute

Meaning: How you dress shapes how others see and treat you.

Literally: Clothes make people

Example: “Zieh zum Vorstellungsgespräch einen Anzug an. Kleider machen Leute.” — Wear a suit to the interview: fine feathers make fine birds.

Equivalents in English, French, Spanish, Japanese, Italian, and 3 more languages

English: Fine feathers make fine birds.
French: La belle plume fait le bel oiseau (literally: Fine feathers make fine birds)
Spanish: Como te ven, te tratan (literally: As they see you, so they treat you)
Japanese: 馬子にも衣装 (Mako ni mo ishō) (literally: Even a packhorse driver looks fine in good clothes)
Italian: Vesti un ciocco, pare un fiocco (literally: Dress up a log and it looks like a bow)
Dutch: De kleren maken de man (literally: Clothes make the man)
Polish: Jak cię widzą, tak cię piszą (literally: As they see you, so they describe you)
Korean: 옷이 날개라 (Osi nalgaera) (literally: Clothes are wings)

Origin: Gottfried Keller used it as the title of his 1874 novella, in which a poor tailor in a fine coat is mistaken for a Polish count.

Compliments and insults from around the world, from the sweet to the savage.

Faulpelz A lazybones — someone who lounges around and avoids any effort, as warm and inert as a fu…
Griesgram A perpetual grump who radiates dissatisfaction and sucks the joy out of every room.
Pantoffelheld A man who is only bold and brave at home — a henpecked pushover who bluster turns into a…

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