The following day, at a lecture about personal branding and appearance, I asked 80 people to describe what a typical professor, computer hacker and high-school art teacher looked like.

FORBES: Are You Dressing The Part Of Your Job?

Instead, they argued, a fortuitous mutation in the human brain may have triggered an explosion in human creativity 50, 000 years ago, leading to a sudden appearance of personal ornaments, skilfully-crafted art, novel tools and weapons.

BBC: NEWS | Science/Nature | Study reveals 'oldest jewellery'

But, outside of the realm of television, is it ever OK to advise a colleague on something as personal as appearance?

CNN: Approaching the co-worker makeover

On the 2007 tape, the al Qaeda leader had even dyed his white-flecked beard black, suggesting that as the Saudi militant entered his fifth decade, he was not immune to a measure of vanity about his personal appearance.

CNN: Commentary: Where's Osama bin Laden?

After years in the corporate world (at PriceWaterhouse Coopers, the Stockholm School of Economics and Oriflame Cosmetics), she returned to her roots as a stylist for Bloomingdales, Calvin Klein and the San Francisco Ballet to help companies and private individuals with appearance and personal branding.

FORBES: Are You Dressing The Part Of Your Job?