top of page
Writer's pictureRithika Bhardhwaj

Psychology of Fashion

“Fashion is not about having a closet full of expensive and beautiful things - it is instead about knowing when, where, and how to utilize your collection.” - Nina García


Fashion is in fashion. It is a homogenizing, mind-numbing, and objectifying force. Fashion is a vital means of cultural expression and political valence. It is power, encompassing not just clothing, but all aspects of socio-cultural life, from television shows to sexual practices to scholarly interests.


Dawnn Karen, a brand consultant, therapist, and instructor at the Fashion Institute of Technology. Defines fashion psychology as the “study and treatment of how color, image, style, and beauty affects human behavior while addressing cultural norms and cultural sensitivities.”


Gilles Lipovetsky, French philosopher, writer, and sociologist, states fashion emerged as a sign of a new sense of adventure. "Freed from the grip of the past," when humans began to value choice, and desire over traditions. Fashion encouraged them to be the masters of the conditions of their existence. Lipovetsky argues that the presently mass-produced fashion offers many options, which empowers the consumers to become complex individuals within a consolidated, democratically educated society. Fashion is not just going on with the latest trend. It is about memory, problem-solving, nostalgia, self-reinvention, communicating, empowerment, feelings, and so much more. Fashion is a ritual just like any other we might follow.


Fashion and Brain

The brain loves trends because they are fast-acting short-lived blasts of novelty. There are various researches done regarding this such as:

  • A study conducted by Dr. Nixo Bunzeck and Dr. Emrah Duzel stated that the substantia nigra/ventral tegmental area (the gray matter of the brain: cortex), associated with the reward circuit of the brain in the form of basal ganglia, is stimulated when presented with something new. That is when a new trend in fashion appears, for example, the chunky loafers. It prompts your brain and grabs its attention, therefore, giving you a neural payoff.

  • Evolutionary perspective states that when we encounter a new stimulus in the environment, for example, a new trend of baggy jeans, for our survival, we must attend to it to assess the level of danger or benefit it may offer.

  • Learning also enhances in the context of novelty. When something new, for example, the wide-leg, and baggy jeans trend, which recently became famous all over again. All cognitive processes involved in learning (working memory, visual processing, problem-solving, etc.) are enhanced. Therefore, we start jogging up our memory to form images and construct outfits to suit us.

Various perspectives on the origin of fashion

Psychological model of fashion

Many psychological factors motivate us to be fashionable. These factors might include conformity, desires for variety seeking, the need to express personal creativity, and sexual attraction. And one of the major factors would be the need for uniqueness or to be different.


The economic model of fashion

Economists approach fashion in terms of demand, and supply, to attract or appeal to the consumer. Many effects can influence the demand curve, some of which are:

  • The prestige-exclusivity effect: means setting the price higher than they are. Here the customer would value the brand and the features, despite the production cost or quality of the product. For example, the Apple iPhone, with its strong brand identity, is doing better than its competitors.

  • The snob effect: is a phenomenon where lower prices reduce the demand, For example, designer clothing.


Sociological model of fashion

The fashion system includes all the people, and organizations that create symbolic meanings, and transfer those meanings to cultural goods. Fashion processes affect all cultural phenomena, including music, art, business practices, architecture, and science. Distinctive styles and colors denote gang membership like sports apparel. The ongoing controversy about the banning of clothing associated with Islamic terrorism, such as the burkini on French beaches illustrates, how fashion psychology penetrates crucial societal issues. It is something that divides as well as unites us as a species.


Importance of Fashion Psychology

Fashion matters to the economy, society, environment, and us personally. The fashion industry has one of the biggest markets in our society. Although it is not presumed vital for our education system or to be discussed intellectually, it does play an important role, like ourselves, in identifying who we are, and who we want to be.

  • Fashion differentiates cultures and creates national identity. It shows the beauty and uniqueness of our history and culture. For example, in India, the cultural hub of the world, there are numerous ethnic outfits like sari, salwar kameez, lehenga choli, etc.

  • It has a powerful way of representing ideas, making them easier to understand.

  • Fashion has also joined hands with technology to create staples, good for the environment, society, and health.

  • Fashion is a memory, a mirror, and a personality. It plays a significant role in articulating our beliefs and lifestyle.

  • It is a major aspect of communication analysis as it provides a lot of non-verbal forms of information about a person.


Impact of variations in clothing on the observer and the wearer

Some of the earliest theories regarding this are:

  • One of the earliest theories of fashion psychology given by James Laver (1899-1975) argues that shifting erogenous zones or the sexually arousing areas of the body accounted for fashion changes that became the social trends. This trend lasts for seven years before it moves to another. for example, The 60s Chelsea girls, miniskirt, where the erogenous zone became the legs.

  • The Signaling theory states the importance of clothing in mate selection. Or the role of fashion in shaping your self-concept is what you wear.

  • The person perception theory given by Solomon Asch uses externally available information to form perceptions about the people. For example, the type of clothing one wears.

  • In research done to assess the expression "clothes make the man," the researchers asked respondents to wear a lab coat, which people associate with attentiveness and precise work. They found that subjects who wore the lab coat displayed enhanced performance on tasks that required them to pay close attention. But they also introduced a twist: When respondents were informed that the garment was a painter's coat rather than a doctor's lab coat, the effect went away. In other words, the respondents interpreted the symbolic meaning of the clothing, and then altered their behavior accordingly.


Fashion in everything

Fashion is everywhere and in everything. It is something without which we as humans might just not be able to function. It is a wordless form of communication that expresses things that we might not be able to express, for example, sadness, power, comfort, warmth, purity, commitment, safety, and many more. Fashion is just a means to an end. It is a constant that is ever-changing as our lives. It sometimes gets you selected for the job, gets you motivated for the day, or helps you express your opinion.


But, along with all the benefits of exploring fashion for yourself, we should realize the importance of time management. Nonetheless, adding a boring clothing routine might help with reducing the number of choices and decisions we have to make. But it can sometimes backfire, as it becomes boring, and excludes the excitement of unpredictable choices of the day. This opportunity to wear something new and unpredictable, but something which we are controlling gives us satisfaction, and boosts our well-being.


Fashion and its benefit
  • Boosts self-esteem: When we feel comfortable in what we wear, or when we wear something which elevates our appearance. It gives us a sense of confidence that boosts our self-esteem.

  • Communicates: Fashion communicates a lot of non-verbal cues. It communicates your seriousness, reliability, work performance, and so on.

  • Helps with extreme weather: Fashion constantly evolves clothing which helps people fight winters and summers.

  • Bring a change: Being the fastest growing industry. Fashion helps a lot in bringing about change, and spreading awareness about it from social changes to technological changes to environmental changes.

  • Protects you from a disease: During the COVID-19 pandemic, we saw people bringing fashion in things like face masks to make them more comfortable to wear. And so on.


Takeaway Message

Fashion is a world in itself. It is an emotion, it is spiritual, it is a behavior, it is a trend, lifestyle, wellbeing, new, and anything and everything around us. Fashion is a statement, it's a political view, how we feel, who we are. Fashion helps us identify the roles we play in this stage, the world. Fashion is new; it is about confidence, insecurities, and vulnerabilities we might want to hide. Fashion helps us make perceptions. Fashion stimulates our sensory receptors (e.g., eyes) which signal our brain that something positive or good is happening.


For me, fashion is empowering, it’s something that helps me be motivated. It gives me confidence, and a good amount of self-love. It is something which I want my generations to come, to look up to. And something which they might want to follow like, my mother’s sari in my wardrobe. Fashion is everlasting for me, what’s it for you?


References
  1. https://www.jstor.org/stable/3788955#:~:text=Although%20Lipovetsky%20talks%20mostly%20about,passion%20for%20novelty%20and%20change.%20(

  2. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-psychology-dress/201202/the-psychology-fashion

  3. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/12/fashion/fashion-psychologist.html

  4. https://www.michaelsolomon.com/fashion-psychology/

  5. https://www.whowhatwear.com/fashion-by-the-decade/slide13

Recent Posts

See All

Comentários


bottom of page