The Psychology of Fashion

When you look at someone, what is the first thing you notice? Whether it is a stylish blazer and mini skirt combo or a not-so-stylish t-shirt with a mysterious stain, you just can not seem to get out; we often look at a person’s clothes to give us an impression of who they are and what they value. After all, fashion is one of the epitomes of human physical expression. What started as a means of coverage for human survival, clothes have now evolved into an ever-expanding industry that has designed itself to appeal to the human desire for uniqueness, community, and understanding. In this article, we divulge the psychology behind color, style, and the fashion industry and what they imply about how the human mind works. 

The human mind has the remarkable ability to fabricate creative associations between abstract concepts and physical properties in our world, such as color. For example, picture any sad scene from your favorite movie or TV show; what color first comes to mind as an undertone for these moments? Most of you probably said blue, and you would be correct. Blue and other cool colors are often associated with non-abrasive emotions like sadness, mellowness, or lethargy. Conversely, red is perceived as an aggressive or angry color, but interestingly, it also has a dual association with passion and love. But what about when it comes to color in clothing? One would assume that these same color associations would transfer into the fashion world, which is often the case. In one study conducted by Charlene Lind, researching the influence of colors on perceived attractiveness, researchers found that raters perceived participants wearing black and red as more attractive than participants wearing blue, green, yellow, and white. This finding was observed for both genders, so there is a consensus that red and black are generally more attractive or flattering colors, possibly due to black and red being associated with sophistication and luxury in the modern age.  

However, color is not the only thing we consider when using fashion to psychoanalyze a person’s inner mental landscape. The style a person prefers or predominantly wears in their day-to-day life is just as important in predicting their overt behavior and personality. In a study conducted by Northern Illinois University, participants were asked to rate and assign the personality traits most likely embodied by individuals who wear one of four selected clothing styles: conservative style, daring style, dressy style, and casual style. Following the study’s conclusion, researchers observed these findings:

1. People with a conservative style were rated highest for displaying intelligence, sincerity, compassion, reliability, trustworthiness, self-confidence, and self-control.

2. People with a casual style were the second-highest rated for these same traits.

3. People with a daring style were rated higher in attractiveness, self-confidence, initiative, and individualistic traits but lower in interpersonal or prosocial characteristics.

4. People with a dressy style were consistently rated the lowest among all styles for all traits tested in the study. 

Essentially, these findings suggest that the less effort you put into your style, the more positively others will perceive you. In contrast, the more effort you exert, the more likely people are to perceive you as insecure and unbalanced. However, these findings were derived from individuals who reported themselves to have a low interest in fashion. Interestingly, the rating results were reversed for participants who expressed a prior interest in the fashion world, meaning they perceived people with a dressier style more positively than those who preferred conservative or casual clothing. 

Now, you might be asking yourself, how are these findings observed in practice within the fashion industry? The fashion industry has evolved and changed so much over the years that it is now, in our modern time, understood as a grandiose marketing scheme that shapes itself to exploit inherent consumer behaviors. The market plays into fundamental cognitive biases people have about themselves and their reality, namely preferences regarding socioeconomic factors, cultural differences, and personal ideology. What I mean by this is that the fashion industry shapes itself around the demographic that most predominantly consumes its products. In a study conducted by the Changshu Institute of Technology, Baowei Wei and researchers found that current fashion design methods by the fashion industry impact women, younger people, and high-income individuals the most. As a result, most trademark fashion brands, such as Forever 21 and H&M, shape their marketing campaigns to appeal to the consumer preferences of these demographics. 

Fashion is all about personal expression. Like people, there is no way to define how fashion should be or feel. In that same regard, fashion is not always the most accurate predictor of who a person is. While this directly contradicts everything we just discussed, this notion merely reflects the unpredictability of human nature. Introverts are just as likely to wear bold outfits as serious, business-like individuals are to wear sweatpants and baggy t-shirts occasionally. The type of clothes someone wears shows only one facet of a person’s identity. The psychology of fashion provides insight into the psychological factors that fuel the relationship between fashion, human behavior, and personal identity. Nevertheless, humans constantly change how we express ourselves, never in one era for a long time. Through means of expression like fashion, we continuously innovate and change how we play the game of life. 

References

Lind, C. (1993). Psychology of color: Similarities between abstract and clothing color preferences. Clothing & Textiles Research Journal, 12(1), 57–65.

Paek, S. L. (1986). Effect of Garment Style on the Perception of Personal Traits. Clothing and Textiles Research Journal, 5(1), 10-16.

Wei, B. (2020). Influence of Fashion Design Methods on Psychological Preferences of Consumers: An Analysis Based on Social Psychology Theory, 29(1), 1272-1277. DOI:10.24205/03276716.2020.183