Styling

The Psychology of Dressing: What Research Says About What We Wear

“Dress shabbily and they remember the dress. Dress impeccably and they remember the woman” Coco Chanel

Humans are extraordinarily keen observers of other humans. Research reveals that it takes about 100-200 milliseconds to form an opinion of another person. In this incredibly short amount of time we assess body type, hair color and style, facial expression, posture, dress and more. Everyone has experienced this instant impression of others but, oddly, we discount the impressions we ourselves make. As proof, how often have you said to yourself “this is good enough” about your appearance? We don’t consider the impression our appearance makes on others — or ourselves. To be sure we all have off days or times when our energy is low, making the effort to “pull it together” seem difficult or not worth it. But if “good enough” has become your default mantra, read on!

The serious study of fashion might seem frivolous but for the fact that it has revealed the power of clothing to affect productivity and performance, enhance confidence, foster trust, convey authority or approachability on both the wearer and observer. One of the first studies to prove this gave us the term “thin slices” coined by Dr. Nalini Ambady, a psychologist at Stanford, in the 1980’s. Her experiments documented that people’s intuitive responses and instant first impressions, based on “thin slices” of completely nonverbal cues of dress, grooming and facial expressions, were remarkably accurate and long lasting.

In 2012 Dr. Adam Galinsky, at Columbia University, coined the term “enclothed cognition” to describe how clothing affects the individual’s personal sense of identity and behavior and what it communicates to others and their responses. Enclothed cognition is an important and somewhat complex concept, encompassing several different aspects of personal and social communication.

The idea of “Power Dressing” is central to the theory of enclothed cognition. Clothing sends powerful nonverbal signals that others intuitively register and are also subliminal cues to the individual wearing the clothes. In other words, your personal dress affects your behavior in both subtle and overt ways. Understanding this can assist in boosting your own feelings of self image and confidence, especially on those “off days.” This is the inherent power of dress.

The “social identity” theory describes the use of clothing to demonstrate identity with a particular group and to strengthen connections. One universal example is on display at every team sport event everywhere. Not only do team members dress in uniforms, but their fans also sport the team colors to advertise they, too, belong to the team. Signaling you are part of a team is important when working with others.

Enclothed cognition recognizes that attire can be used to create “physical and psychological distancing.” Clothing can set one apart from a group. For example, a bride in her white wedding gown or a priest, even wearing just the collar with layman’s clothing; both are instantly recognizable as apart from the group. Understanding when and how to set yourself apart using dress can be a crucial tool.

There are many layers to our silent communication, not the least of which is what we communicate to self. It is easy to believe that the messages you give to yourself and telegraph to others don’t matter, except research shows they do. What you wear influences your perception of yourself and your performance each day. Your dress can be an effective and powerful asset when understood and used appropriately.