PSYCHOLOGY OF FASHIONHow clothing can help us live a happier life. People frequently trivialize the fashion industry, but new research into the psychology of fashion reveals that what you put on your body can be your ticket to a successful, happy life. Northwestern University published their findings in the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, outlining the way clothes had a profound psychological and behavioral effect on the people wearing them. The researchers found that employees who were made to wear clothing associated with intelligence and carefulness, such as a white lab coat, performed tasks more proficiently and with more attentiveness. On the other hand, when participants were told that the white lab coat belonged to a painter, proficiency and attentiveness did not increase leading researchers to conclude that there is something called enclothed cognition which influences the feelings and behaviour that clothes have on the wearer. In this way, the right outfit can potentially make you not only more confident, but more creative, skillful and overall better at your job. But it doesnt end there; another study published in Psychological Science found a connection between the way a person carries herself, feelings of power and tolerance for risk. Assuming a powerful Vogue-worthy pose causes neuroendocrine changes such as elevations in testosterone, and decreases in cortisol, which send your confidence shooting for the stars. These findings have been echoed by author Bettina Hannover in article "The Clothing Makes the Self." There Hannover outlines solid laboratory evidence for the idea that what we wear shapes how we feel about ourselves. Study participants, dressed to the nines, were asked to describe their personalities, and the adjectives they used were more formal than when they were dressed more casually.

It is easy to trivialize fashion, but science suggests that our human tendency to internalize the clothing we wear gives our garments a significance beyond mere physical adornment. As it turns out, our clothes can help us dig ourselves out of a creative block, land a dream job and even ace a test depending on the style of clothes we choose to wear. In a very real way, we become the clothes that we wear.