For many people, dressing up is just being “in” with the latest fashion trend but new studies shows that it can also bring out the best of who you are.
As the old saying goes, first impressions last. And its human nature that we make snap judgments about other people based on the clothes they wear. But a recent study shows that what we wear don’t just affect others impression on us, it also affects our self too.
A book written by Professor Karen Pine from the University Of Hertfordshire (U.K) entitled Mind What You Wear: The Psychology of Fashion aims to make people be aware of this and to understand how changing their clothes can change their mood and their thoughts.
The book also contains experiments proving that clothing has a significant effect on someone’s self-esteem and confidence.
In the studies Pine conducted, as related in her book she gathered a group of students and asked some to wear a superman T-shirt to found out if wearing heroic clothing can change how they think. As a result, students claimed that they don’t only feel more confident while wearing a superman shirt but it also made them actually think they were physically stronger.
“When we put on a piece of clothing we cannot help but adopt some of the characteristics associated with it, even if we are unaware of it, says Pine.” And according to scientists this phenomenon is called “enclothed cognition”.
Enclothed cognition “involves the co-occurrence of two independent factors — the symbolic meaning of the clothes and the physical experience of wearing them”, explained by Adam Hajo and Adam D. Galinsky in their Journal of Experimental Social Psychology. Galinsky and Hajo are professors from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.
The Journal of Experimental Psychology has published studies demonstrating that the clothes we wear can influence how we behave and act. And our capacities also seem to be affected by our choice of garments.
According to their experiment, people who wore white coats that they believed to belong to doctors, performed better on tests than people wearing casual, street clothes or those who thought the coats belonged to artists. Thus, the study shows if you have a strong cultural association with a garment, wearing it can affect your cognitive processes.
To further explore this theory, Vogue magazine conducted a survey asking career women what pieces in their closets helped them bring their A-game to work. Gabriela Palmieri, a senior vice president at Sotheby’s in New York says, “A power outfit for me always begins with a great pair of heels.” While model and psychology student Julia Frakesal wears Prada for interviews, and has a go-to brand for test taking: “I wore Marni when I took my Wechsler exam (designed to measure adult intelligence). I swear Marni increases one’s self-perceived intelligence levels.
Lisa Stariha, The Body Empowerment Coach who often works from her home in yoga pants and a cozy shirt says, “to feel more beautiful, confident, and strong, you must change out of the yoga pants and put on clothes that give you power,” just as Wonder Woman went from her Diana Prince uniform to her kick-butt Wonder Woman costume.
And so dressing with confidence is more than wearing the latest fashion trend, it’s about feeling good about what you’re wearing, being comfortable, looking poised and feeling self-assured in all situations. Because we are not only what we wear but we become what we wear.
