Mind what you wear … because it could change your life.

We spend billions of pounds on clothes annually, so surely the cry 'I don’t know what to wear!’ should never be heard. Yet it is. 

A wardrobe crisis may seem like a minor dilemma in a day packed with important decisions, but it's actually not frivolous. Because the clothes we choose can shape the day ahead, determining who we meet, how we behave and how others react to us. No wonder the psychology of fashion is so fascinating.

That’s why my new book ‘Mind What You Wear’ helps you understand the impact of what you wear, on yourself.

Because clothing can literally be life-changing.

Mind What You Wear is just £1.99 from Amazon UK

The book includes the story of Meg who, on a whim, bought a hat, that made a man approach her at a party, that led to them marrying. It’s a poignant  reminder of how our apparently insignifcant choices have a huge impact on others. And where that can lead.

But the main focus of the book is on how what we wear changes us too.

We walk taller and act more confidently in the right outfit. When we’re dressed down we withdraw and hide away. Clothes speak to others but they have the power to speak to us too. Sensations and associations in the body lead to new ideas in the mind.

Every day we pull something from the wardrobe, or try on something in a store, that has life-changing potential. 

 - The suit that subliminally convinces an interviewer we’re perfect for the job. 

 - The red dress that stirs something in a future lover that leads them to ask for a date. 

 - Even the swimsuit that can strip us of our intellectual powers. 

(Yes, when Barbara Fredrickson gave a maths test to groups of women and men who wore either a swimsuit or a sweater, she showed that wearing a swimsuit diminished a woman’s maths performance).

This was a startling discovery - that what we wear can actually change the way our brains function. Later, researchers from Northwestern University in the US showed that putting on a white coat improved a person’s mental agility. By associating the white coat with a doctor their brain was primed to take on different mental capacities.

So in my lab we have been putting students in Superman t-shirts! We’ve found it makes them see themselves as more likeable and superior to other students, and even to believe they are physically stronger. Every day the brain’s functions are primed by sights, smells and experiences. Now we know our mental processes can also primed by a piece of clothing, which opens up exciting opportunities.

What we wear has cognitive, social and emotional consequences. 

The right clothing can change who we are, how we think and how we feel. So we should never underestimate this power. My research has revealed that when women are depressed they are more likely to wear jeans. What would happen if, on waking up feeling glum, instead of dragging on the sad pants the woman pulled on a favourite frock? The effect could be intrapersonal, priming her brain and lifting her mood. Or it could be interpersonal, the message her clothes send to the world determining others’ responses to her, triggering a positive feedback loop capable of changing her mood. 

The book has lots of tips to lift your mood with the right clothes. 

One day we may even see clothes prescribed as therapy, as an alternative to medication. In the meantime why not learn a little more about how the right clothes can impact on your life by getting hold of a copy of Mind What You Wear.

What's your Style Identity? (and should you care?)….

A pair of turquoise PVC shorts. A neon jumpsuit. A hand-knitted corset. Just some of the drastic style boobs that three friends owned up to when surveyed recently. And who hasn’t bought something to wear and, on getting it home, found that it's less of a ‘Wow” and more of a “Why???”!

That’s why I was thrilled to get involved in a project with TKMaxx and The Times T2 to help people discover their Style Identity. It's just launched today. 

When we're muddled about what suits us, confused about the style that matches our personality, we risk making expensive mistakes and creating a look that misses the mark. It's not enough to rip a style from the catwalk, magazine page or shop window and simply put it on. That look was designed for someone with a different body, a different personality and a lifestyle that’s nothing like yours. So it’s unlikely to work. It might scream, “This isn’t me”. Worse still, it could hide the real you and leave you sartorially dissatisfied, starved of self-expression. That's why dressing from the inside out, from your identity and your unique personality, is so vital.

Research shows that when we change how we look, the change isn’t purely physical. 

Changing how we look changes how we behave. 

It changes how others react to us (positively and negatively). 

It can even change how we think and feel. 

So pulling a dress off the wardrobe or shop rail is no benign act. It could have a knock-on effect for your whole day. Or even your life. I’m digging deep into the psychology behind this in my new book about fashion psychology, ‘Mind What You Wear’. It'll feature the TKMaxx/Times Style Identity questionnaire as a way for people to really get ‘behind the seams’ of their own identity. 

Romance, Retro, Glamour, Bold or Street Chic. What's your style identity?

If you haven’t already checked out yours, go over and do the Style Identity questionnaire. It only takes a few minutes. And don’t forget to share your results with your friends. 

I've created five identities based on how an individual's personality type and lifestyle translates into clothing. The identities are Romance, Retro, Glamour, Bold and Street Chic. Your answers to the questions will reveal which you are. You may think you know. Or you might be in for a surprise. Of course most of us are a mix of types, so your signature and your accent style will emerge from the test. It’s worth giving it a go. When you know what your style is you feel more at one with your image, and those shopping expeditions are made a whole lot easier.

If discovering your identity sparks off some style soul-searching, that’s no bad thing. 
TK Maxx has a fashion philosophy that’s all about being a little bit braver. They want people to ‘put their brave glasses on’. To say ‘maybe’ to the unthinkable. I love their approach because it chimes so well with the Do Something Different movement that I co-founded and passionately believe in. When applied to fashion this all adds up to more brazen experimentation, more pushing at the boudaries and more venturing across the familiar line.

It’s easy to get into a wardrobe rut because it creeps up on us without us knowing. You suddenly find yourself playing it so safe that you're not expressing your true identity. You  start to disappear in a sea of beige. Now's the time to change all that.
TK Maxx say that the only wrong is not trying it on. 
And that’s as true of life as it is of clothing!

Is clothes shopping a costly mechanism for maintaining self-esteem?

     Remember the first time you went out and bought yourself something to wear? With your own money and without your mum in tow? For many people this was a rite of passage from childhood to  adolescence. The time when possessions started to act as an extension of the self. When the clothes we wore were critical to the development of our identity. It's no coincidence that materialism peaks at mid-adolescence, just when self-esteem starts to take a bit of a dip. And fashion psychology tells us that, for many, clothes shopping becomes a lifelong (and costly) mechanism for maintaining a reasonable level of self-esteem.

     In the course of a lifetime it’s estimated that women in the western world shell out an average of £84,000 (or $107,000) on clothes. If a woman’s clothes shopping years extend roughly from age 16 up to 86 years (although more is spent in the younger than the older years) that’s 70 years, or 3640 weeks, of clothes-buying. And that works out at £23.07 per week. Every single week. It’s a frightening sum. And yet:

• A survey I carried out revealed that 82% of people have at least one item in their wardrobe that they have never ever worn. 
• I also found that one in ten people have at least ten unworn items still with the label on.
• A US survey reported on EliteDaily.com said that 60% of women say they still struggle to find something they want to wear to work or on a night out. 

     Contrast this with Marie Curie, who got married in her navy dress and wore it every single day afterwards, because it wouldn’t show the stains from working in the lab.  Nowadays many women put effort into finding the perfect garment to solve her current wardrobe crisis. Or  current emotional crisis. And many modern woman are seduced into believing that each season must herald in at least one new dress, jacket, coat and pair of trousers. 

    But the secret of dressing well may lie in wearing what you’ve already got in your wardrobe. Reinterpreting those clothes in a stylish and individual way, without needing to add another item. In fact, having more clothes simply adds to the confusion and dilemma of dressing by creating option overload. And buying more simply leads to hedonic adaptation, as I have written about in an earlier fashion psychology blog.  

     Researchers know that our brains encode perceptual information in predictable ways. The brain groups together items that are similar and categorises each new experience according to how alike it is to a previous one. It is wired for sameness, so no wonder novelty feels so exciting. That's why simple changes like going a different way to work, rearranging the furniture or trying a new type of food can give the brain a stimulating prod, diverting it from the old well-trodden path and sending it down a new, excitingly different, pathway. 

     So next time you're tempted to make a 'quick fix' purchase take a step back. Ask yourself if you actually need something new. Or if just need some novelty, to give the sartorial part of your brain a jolt. If so, why not try the following with the clothes you already possess?

• Mix unexpected fabrics and styles to create exciting contrasts; leather with chiffon, tweed and taffeta.
• Forget dainty heels and mix the prettiness of a frock with socks and flat boots.
• Soften the hard edges of leather by pairing a biker jacket with vintage lace or cashmere.
• Try layering or mixing garments in unusual combinations. Wear one dress over another, layer two or more t-shirts, wear a vintage bra over a vest-top or a petticoat over a skirt.
• Men’s clothes are often better tailored than women's; try a man’s jacket belted with a vintage brooch for a cool style. Or turn a large cotton man’s shirt into a shirt dress by elasticating the waist.
• Reverse clothes, wear them upside down or inside out for a new quirky take on an old garment you’re bored with. Rip off and replace the buttons or tie dye the fabric.
• Don't wear things in the way they were intended. A belt can be worn as a necklace. A table cloth transforms into a quirky wrap-around skirt. I have a scarf that’s actually the sleeve of a man’s jacket complete with paisley lining. The friend who made it also makes skirts by sewing lots of men’s patterned ties together. Sleeves sewn together can add up to a funky and unique skirt.

Upcycled outfit by Asli Jackson

• Don't throw out old jumpers, use the sleeves to make cuffs, fingerless gloves or leg-warmers. 
• Revive old trousers as shorts to be worn over funky tights, or unpick the seams and turn into a skirt.
• Cut slashes in an old woollen jumper, hot wash it to seal the edges and create a lacy effect, wear over a contrasting colour t-shirt.
• Take inspiration from artists, like Anu Tuominen who makes bunches of woolly gloves into a shawl, or a scarf from dozens of mis-matching colourful woollen socks.
• Look out for workwear or old military or naval uniforms and make the most of their durable fabrics and stark simplicity.
• Break every colour-matching rule. You will inject energy into any outfit if you STOP MATCHING EVERYTHING.
• Look for recycled fashion labels like TRAIDremade who make an art and a business out of upcycling and transforming old garments into new.
• Or From Somewhere who rescue discarded fabrics from the dustbins and floors of fashion rooms and turn them into beautiful clothes.

     It is sad to think that billions of tons of unwanted clothes get thrown away every year. And that millions of pounds worth of debts are racked up every year through people buying clothes they don't need with money they don't have. 
     So instead of shopping for new clothes why not use some of these creative ideas to save money and work on developing an individual style from the clothes under your nose.  Make your wardrobe work for you, instead of you working for your wardrobe.

Dressing like your boss can boost your career prospects.

I was stunned to witness a clone invasion while lunching in the City recently. 

A bunch of people on their work break came in, all wearing identical outfits!

Every single man wore a suit with a pale blue shirt. 

And every woman wore a pencil skirt, heels and trench mac. It was sartorial monotony gone mad.

So, with my fashion psychology hat on, I pondered.... what’s with the dressalikes?

Forget putting in the hours and hitting targets, new research suggests that dressing like your colleagues is the way to boost your career trajectory.

Debenhams surveyed 2,000 people on work place dressing recently.  Six in ten people (61%) said that dressing like their colleagues created a better team spirit and a higher level of productivity.

 

Debenhams designers, all dressed refreshingly different!

Perhaps this explains the office trend of 'work twins'. Could this be a key look for the new season?

• More than half of those surveyed said that they were heavily influenced by what their managers and colleagues wear to work.

And a third (33%) said their team deliberately bought the same clothes and wore them on the same day! Apparently ‘Checked shirt Fridays’ and ‘Blue Mondays” were popular with men, while female workers were fans of ‘Monochrome Mondays’ and ‘Floral Fridays’.

• Interestingly the majority of managers surveyed (68%) also said that staff with a similar style to them gained brownie points and were more on their radar. 

There's a psychological reason for this. Humans tend to be drawn to people who are like them, since difference can be perceived as threatening. People feel safer when they dress alike. They are signalling their need to belong to the group. A team that chooses the same style of dress for work is indicating their cohesiveness and could reflect a wider collaborative culture within the organisation or a high need for conformity. 

It’s well known that bosses often appoint and promote people who are like them. 

Boards are renowned for electing members that resemble existing ones. 

Clothes are a shorthand for who we are and what we are like, and research shows clothes  can also change the wearer’s personality.

So dressing like the boss may bring out a person’s leadership behaviours. It could even subconsciously influence others to see them as management material.  You could say that people who dress like their superiors have found a smart way to get noticed and accepted.

This story ran in the press last week and the Independent showed that copycat dressing extends beyond the workplace. Apparently Gareth Bale, when waiting for his dream move to Madrid, started dressing like his new teammate Cristiano Ronaldo in the run-up to the deal!

One of my Twitter followers, a guy, pointed out that he wouldn’t be dressing like a boss – as she’s female. Fair enough.

And when I did a Jack FM radio interview about this story the interviewer told me their boss is a keen cyclist. They were all thinking of coming to work in Lycra the following morning. I wonder what that did for their promotion chances?