Nishi Gandhi
What is fashion? Fashion is something that can be different for everyone. For some it is a way of expressing oneself, for others it is a way of communicating, which is different for each person. As Carolyn Mair said, fashion is like a second skin because it is the closest thing to our body. For influencers, it’s about empowering themselves and influencing others. And psychology is the study of the mind or behaviour. So fashion psychology is a heuristic. When we see a person, we judge them in a second or come to a conclusion about them in that second.
Fashion psychology is about understanding the deeper aspects of how fashion affects human behavior and how people’s lives are affected by it. We all know that people are judged by their personality and the way they dress and appear. That’s fashion psychology in a nutshell. Let us take a closer look at these things and their interrelationship and see how they influence us.
In order to understand how it affects our emotions, let’s explore this further. People have the habit of going shopping when they are sad to brighten their spirits. Fashion evokes emotions that can be negative or positive. Having no idea what to wear or how to wear it makes us uncomfortable and makes us lose confidence. Consequently, we begin to worry about what others will think, and that affects our mood in many ways. Anger can also be triggered by wearing an article of clothing. Perhaps you’re wondering how? It can be upsetting when people manipulate or comment heavily on how we dress.
We need to remember that even when we feel negative vibes, there is always a positive side to every situation. Is there a dress that you think is the safest and most comfortable that I could wear? Is there a handbag that you can carry every day, like the perfect handbag for every outfit? So these are confidence pieces that you can wear anytime when you feel less motivated, less confident, or less powerful. The positive effects of these things can boost your self-esteem and help you forget all your negative feelings.
In today’s world, influencers, magazines, and social media can have huge impact on a person in many ways. The state of mind or emotions of an introvert or plus size can be influenced by seeing an extrovert or influencer wearing fancy clothes. It is true that influencers primarily inspire people, but in some way, they also influence people lives, which can result in low self-esteem, feeling powerless or even affecting mental health and a higher livelihood of negative emotions. Most people or more specifically Gen Z believe that being an influencer is glamorous such as traveling to cool places, having fun, and receiving tons of free stuff. However, they have no idea of the real struggle influencers have. If a person sees some sort of reel on Instagram, they might think why they can’t wear that type of outfit or why can’t I afford it for many reasons. Teenagers nowadays can feel depressed or affect their mental health because their friends can afford something that they cannot afford, leading to future problems like losing their self-esteem, becoming introverted, and so on. In addition, people have become so sensitive about all these topics in recent years. In the workplace, people have a common uniform so they do not have to worry about their outfit every day or worry about wearing the same outfit in a week, which can stress them out and affect their work. For this reason, Mark Zuckerberg wears the same clothes, which helps him save mental energy that does not affect work.
Fashion is a form of non-verbal communication that expresses a person’s thoughts and personality. We can communicate in many ways, such as through colors, prints, the way you style the garment, and much more. Let us take red for example. Some people feel more confident, energetic and loving when they wear red. Some dark colors make you feel sad, while some dark colors make you feel more empowered and the same goes for light or neutral colors that make you feel peaceful, calm and serene. Even specific colors can be irritating to certain people. Therefore, everything is interconnected; if the color of the garment, the print, or the texture affects your thoughts, it will also affect how you communicate because it will affect your emotions. Different colors signify different things in different places. Some designers have to think before using colors because they are aware of the cultural meaning of a certain color. Like people wear black during mourning in Christianity because it’s a cultural tradition and we respect that. Wearing it during that time serves as a means of communicating respect for the deceased and their family. Lawyers wear black and white because white represents purity and peace and black symbolize sense of power and justice (Legal Service India).
Fashion can communicate with others in various non-verbal ways. It can express your culture, your mood, your age, your self-confidence, your values and your sexuality. The way LGBTQ people dress shows how they feel, what emotions they have and how they think about themselves. They show that they are no different and that their emotions can be affected in the same way as all human emotions. So clothes are a reflection of one’s personality. That is why people show their personality by dressing the way they are.
After the pandemic, people’s perspective towards everything changed. Fashion also changed during the pandemic. People did not wear fancy clothes at home. They wore what was comfortable for them and gave them a sense of peace and tranquility. This shaped the way we treat our outfits. So people’s behavior toward fashion has changed in many ways. For example, elite people want anything that is luxurious because it has sentimental value and they believe that wearing that outfit can lift their confidence and mood. The way they look at fashion has also changed. They believe that they want to be more positive and confident in everything they wear. People no longer force themselves to wear something they do not want. They think about their mental health. It’s as if comfort now has a positive impact.
