The Psychology of Fashion: The WEIRD Things Your Clothes Tell Others About You

By Karen J. Pine she is a scientist who has thoroughly combed the fashion world, and in the book Mind What You Wear: The Psychology of Fashion brought together a number of scientific findings that illustrate what influence does fashion have on your well-being? and what others think of you.

Pine writes about how your attitude towards yourself is shaped by your clothes. It advocates the idea that you have to dress a certain way if you want to impress people in a certain way. Among other things, the choice of clothes should affect yours self-confidence. In one of the studies, she found that 73 % people dress in a certain way because they they want to feel confident. Comfort and expression come second and third.

In the book, she also dealt with the question of happiness, namely that she found that clothes affect how you feel and they send a signal to other people about what yours is like mental health. The scientist wanted to find out how she could you affect your mood with specific fashion pieces. She developed a list 10 lucky clothes:

1. A peplum dress will lift your mood because it will make you feel comfortable and feminine.
2. A piece of special jewelry that defines you will make you happy because you will feel special, like wearing a medal.
3. Earth colors connect you with nature, protect you from negative emotions and give you extra energy.
4. Playful patterns can revive the carefree feelings you experienced as a child.
5. Combining fashion pieces that you shouldn't combine according to the rules can make you happy because the brain enjoys novelty and surprises.
6. Loose clothing and flat-soled shoes give you the sense of freedom of movement associated with adventure and travel. Tight clothes create the opposite effect.
7. Vintage clothing and accessories, sometimes of better quality, connect you with stories from the past.
8. Natural materials connect you with nature.
9. Floral patterns are associated with spring, you feel feminine and healthy.
10. Every trend you like improves your mood.

WHAT DOES YOUR STYLE TELL OTHERS ABOUT YOU?

• Women who dress provocatively are seen by others as less capable than women who dress conservatively.
• The human eye likes to follow patterns on clothes, so it can happen that others think you are bigger than you really are.
• People believe that they are mentally stronger when they wear a Superman T-shirt.
• A woman who comes to a job interview dressed in masculine clothing will be noticed sooner than a woman who is dressed in a feminine way.
• Women notice a smile and eyes first on a man, while men notice a sense of fashion, then the face and body.
• If you dress in uniform, people will think that you are aggressive and bossy.
• People will prefer to lend money to those who have a similar style to them.
• People move faster if they follow someone wearing a red suit. With blue, the effect is the opposite.