Dopamine Dressing: How your clothes can influence your mood

Have you ever found yourself feeling happier in certain clothes than the rest? In fact, how many times have you stopped waiting for a "special occasion" to wear just those clothes that keep calling out to you? Because when you get right down to it, the clothes you wear influence how you feel, and happiness may just be one of those emotions. This is called dopamine dressing.

Yes, you heard that right! Dopamine, the neurotransmitter popularly known as the 'feel-good chemical', is connected to the clothes we wear. This trend of dressing to boost your mood or feel good has been rising recently. It's not a surprise, considering how the pandemic once confined us to our comfy sweat-pants until it only made us feel comfy and nothing more.

As William James once implied, the clothes we wear are an extension of us. Although the sheer purpose of clothes for early humankind was to assure warmth and comfort, the clothes we wear today in the contemporary world contain kernels of our creativity, uniqueness, socioeconomic and mental health status! Fashion is important to everyone at this hour because of the freedom of expression it gifts us with, irrespective of one's gender.

Within the field of Psychology, clothing was mainly confined to social psychology, and the impression clothes have on other people within the social sphere. The covert relationship between clothes and confidence was well-established. It made sense that formals were a great deal during professional interviews to exhibit the best impression but beyond this, fashion was deemed unworthy of any further academic analysis. The subject of fashion has been trivialised and neglected in scholarly discussions.

As it turned out, the conceptualisation of 'enclothed cognition' later emerged with more research. The very idea insisted that the clothes we wear have not only an impression on those we interact with but also on our own psychological processes and feelings.

The term dopamine dressing was then coined by Dr Dawnn Karen, a fashion psychologist a.k.a. the "Dress Doctor." In her book Dress Your Best Life, she elaborates on how certain clothes can trigger your nervous system to release dopamine which improves your mood.

The wardrobe choices we make have a psychological impact on us. In one experiment using a lab coat, it was observed that participants displayed better performance and mental agility when they were told their white coat was a physician's lab coat compared to when they were told it was a painter's smock. Therefore, clothes have much more to do with our confidence than we think.

While dopamine dressing is also called mood enhancement dressing, there also exists another concept called mood alignment dressing. As much as clothes are used to match the mood, it can also be used to control or mask emotions. Your present emotional state greatly influences the clothes you're wearing, even if you aren't aware of it. In a 2012 study by Karen Pine, 57 per cent of women reported wearing baggy tops when depressed and 62 per cent reported wearing a favourite dress when happy. Having said that, the key to optimising your mood rather than aligning with it is why the trend of mood enhancement dressing has been calling the shots today.

The point of dopamine dressing, however, isn't to swipe your credit card at a hundred different shops and march out victoriously with shopping bags in both hands. The idea of dopamine dressing revolves around the fact that what you need is most likely in your closet. All you need to do is wear what makes you feel happy. Why wait for a "special occasion" when you can make yourself feel special, even on those ordinary days?

Although dopamine dressing is no substitute for a solution or therapy, it has been helpful alongside it. Colour therapy, also called chromotherapy, has been beneficial in treating mental and physical conditions since the idea of how colours influence our mood has matured through research. A 2012 study suggested that one could wear bright colours or clothes with a valuable backstory to lift their mood.

For instance, yellow is an uplifting colour and was even used for patients with depression back in asylum wards. It can also improve one's mood through conditions like seasonal affective disorder.?

If you'd like to try dopamine dressing yourself, look into your wardrobe and wear the clothes that make you feel gravitated. Experiment with the clothes you have or styles you'd like to try. Recognise the colours that please you or those that don't; you can even experiment with wearing different colours per your mood. Stepping out of your comfort zone is the best way to experiment and can even increase self-confidence. Remember Kat for Euphoria? Not only did she explore fashion beyond her comfort zone, but she also found transformation in it when she finally found herself wearing the clothes that resonated with who she wanted to be.

And yes, remember the clothes that make you feel great on those days when you aren't feeling so great. If a style is not working for you, there is always time to dig deeper into your closet or browse for another hour on Pinterest till you find the fit that clicks. At the end of the day, "glow-ups" have less to do with our clothes and more with how we feel with the freedom to be who we are and wear what we want.

Oscar Wilde might as well be my soul spirit when he said, "You can never be overdressed or overeducated." It is only because I remember that every time someone takes the liberty to ask me "What's the occasion?" whenever I wear something dressy.

How do you define "overdressing" anyway?

~ Poorvi S.