Why we should dress strategically

Sydney: We can use clothing as a tool to aid in the success of our efforts, and style as a means to improve our relationships with ourselves and those around us.

HAVE you ever questioned the need for dress codes in schools, why lawyers wear their black robes, and why a simple suit is regarded as the most quintessential formal wear for men?

The impact of fashion and clothing that most fail to register is its psychological effects, which surpass aesthetics.

Science has bestowed a name for this phenomenon: “enclothed cognition”.

According to an article by Gaura Sarda-Joshi entitled “Psychology of clothes: what you wear changes the way you think”, enclothed cognition emphasises how the garments we wear affect our behaviours, attitudes, confidence, mood, and even the way we interact with others.

A myriad of examples exists all around us in our daily lives. Take, for instance, suits being the staple attire for those in the business sector.

In a study conducted by Michael W. Kraus of Yale University, United States, on the subject of clothing and its influence on the wearer’s behaviour, businessmen were split into two groups: suits and sweatpants.

The task? Performing their best in a simulated business deal experiment. The results were astounding, as the suit-wearing participants managed to earn a sum of over US$2mil (RM8.95mil), while their sweatpants-wearing counterparts ended up with a loss of US$1.2mil (RM5.37mil).

So, how can we use this theory to our advantage, and how does clothing correlate to creative self-expression? Why is it so imperative that we dress strategically?

When we wear clothes that we feel good in – that we believe are our best second skin possible – not only does our confidence soar, boosting overall performance, but it also improves our self-esteem and focus.

Fashion aside, having a personal style is one of the best ways to enhance our quality of life.

The more we have the courage to express our own creative liberties, the more we start to implement this mindset in other aspects of our lives. If you’re thinking of stretching your comfort zone and becoming more outspoken, simply incorporating small accents in your clothing that you feel best represent you can serve as a powerful step for the change that you seek.

For beginners seeking to improve their styles and clothing, focusing on aspects such as the colour, silhouette and appropriateness is a vital first step.

A good representation of basic colour symbolism is the “emotions” from the film Inside Out, with sadness being blue, anger clothed in red and so on.

Thus, if your day hasn’t been the most joyful, staying away from dull tones and wearing a brighter colour has been proven by studies to improve your mood.

If you’re not passionate about fashion in general and just want to utilise clothing as a way of boosting your performance, simply ensuring that the clothing you wear is kept well, fitting for the occasion and flattering to your body type can significantly improve your look.

In conclusion, the main point isn’t to encourage you to purchase more clothes – what you wear isn’t an indicator of your value as an individual.

Instead, we can use clothing as a tool to aid in the success of our efforts, and style as a means to improve our relationships with ourselves and those around us.

Sydney, 19, a student in Kuala Lumpur, is a participant of the BRATs Young Journalist Programme run by The Star’s Newspaper-in-Education (Star-NiE) team.