How fashion influences the way we think

Hello everyone! Have you ever wondered "why is fashion important?" or "Does my outfit really matter?" Well, you're at the right place to find out why.

I've always been drawn to fashion and the psychology behind how we dress. I've always shared this information, however, I've discovered that people usually don't like believing your claims without some evidence backing them up. So, I decided let's find some evidence, why not explore how and why the way we dress influences us?

How does my outfit influence the way people perceive me?

I'm sure all of us have found ourselves emptying our wardrobes trying to decide what to wear to a job interview or more realistically for teenagers like me- go out with friends, perhaps a party. Whether we like it or not, all of us find ourselves judging people based on how they look. We want people to look at us and see confidence, we want them to think we're amazing, gorgeous etc Everyone wants to radiate all these likeable qualities and guess what! Your outfit is basically your cover, a wrapper of sorts. We pick the chocolate with the fanciest packaging, don't we? This is why I've always found the saying "don't judge the book by its cover" very funny, the whole point of the cover is to be attractive so we pick that book- although that would open the 'beauty is not just skin deep' debate so lets not get into it.

Before I go down the rabbit hole of surveys and research articles I'd like all of us to participate in a little experiment. Spend some time (preferably a day) trying to be productive in your pyjamas and then in a more presentable outfit. Give them both a day and see how that goes. Did you get more done when you were properly dressed? I asked a few of my friends to try it out as well and the response I got was well they were more productive when they were wearing "presentable" clothing. Loungewear puts you in a relaxed mindset, you are lounging not working. Bringing us to how clothes affect the way we think, now for this I've some "scientific" evidence.

Let me tell you about enclothed cognition, in 2012 researchers at Kellogg school of management conducted an experiment with a white lab coat.

“. . .we propose that enclothed cognition involves the co-occurrence of two independent factors — the symbolic meaning of the clothes?and?the physical experience of wearing them. As the first test of our enclothed cognition perspective, the current research explored the effects of wearing a lab coat. A pretest found that a lab coat is generally associated with attentiveness and carefulness. We, therefore, predicted that wearing a lab coat would increase performance on attention-related tasks.”

Basically, they gave three groups of people three different lab coats, they told the first group it was a painter's coat, the second it is a doctor's coat and the third was also told it's a doctor's coat but they weren't allowed to wear it. They were then tested for selective attention based on their ability to identify incongruities. Results? the group under the impression it was a doctor's coat was more careful and attentive to detail compared to the other two. The first group was wearing the same coat but I guess people don't associate art with being careful and attentive (as an art student I'm a little offended- wait till they make portraits). Lastly, simply looking at a magical robe doesn't give you powers hence the third group did not do as well as the second one.

"Clothes invade the body and brain, putting the wearer into a different psychological state" - Dr Galinsky's words of wisdom. What have we learnt? Clothes do in fact influence how we think. It is not just about a white lab coat, we've associated a lot of things with clothing such as colour theory.

I'm not going to go delve into colour theory, in another article perhaps. Instead, I just want to add this little bit here, "We feel the 'power of colours' when we are attracted or repelled by the appearance of people, things and spaces.?We only see beautiful, ugly, delicious or disgusting colours, because our perception is determined by the power of our memories.?Human beings are colour experts."

So far we've solidified that clothes do in fact influence our thought process, and now I'm going to move on to why.

Well for starts because of things we associated other things with. Let me explain, If we wear brightly coloured/patterned trousers we'll catch more attention compared to a pair of denim and a plain black t-shirt right? Just like that bright colours and loud patterns are associated with confidence and being bold. If you wear a loud outfit you're more likely to feel bold and confident. There's more to it, we've divided things into masculine and feminine- there's some misogyny and sexism intertwined here but things associated with feminine dressing like lace or pink are often associated with softness. We've all heard of the dumb blonde trope, right? People wearing too much pink are ought to be perceived as dumb or mean compared to a more "masculine" way of dressing which includes neutrals and simpler silhouettes which are associated with being serious and smarter. We've all associated colours and outfits with different moods and traits (some are implemented by society others by experience) They ultimately design how we examine and understand things.

Lastly, I wanted to touch upon authenticity and how it's important we don't lose ourselves in the process of living up to people's perception of us. Personally, when I'm dressed authentically I feel more confident like I can finally achieve world domination which is why dressing authentically is also very important. Clothes are a form of self-expression, if you're not expressing yourself then what's the point? You will feel most confident when you're dressed in clothes that reflect who YOU are. cue advertisement for my styling services

Sources -

colour theory - https://colour.education/color-language-effects-of-color-on-our-perception-and-behaviour/

https://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/03/science/clothes-and-self-perception.html

https://sloanreview.mit.edu/article/what-you-wear-can-influence-how-you-perform/

Originally published on 28. 08. 2022