a confidence you didn’t know you were missing
image by Kenleigh McCart
One thing I love about being a Communication major is that it gives you the freedom to personalize your projects. I recently made a speech on why you should care about what you wear on the day to day because it produces a confidence you didn’t know you were missing. It was the most fun I have ever had doing academic research and the reason is pretty obvious … I love the art of getting dressed in the morning. I cannot stop thinking about the speech so I decided to share it with all of you!
image via Pinterest
Have y’all ever heard the song These Boots Are Made For Walkin’ by Nancy Sinatra? It’s all about this girl who wants to get revenge on this guy who clearly was not nice to her. She has every capability to achieve her revenge while wearing flip flops, rain boots, or sneakers; but in the music video she has these black leather, stiletto heel boots which clearly symbolize empowerment for her. I find it interesting that I chose the topic about caring about what you wear everyday before the corona virus hit our country and [working from home] became our new paradigm.
When stepping into the world of fashion psychology I came across all kinds of findings about how what we choose to put on our body has a deeper significance and meaning all having to do with how we are wanting to be perceived (Baumgartner, 2012). But don’t worry we’re not getting into all of that. Before I do get into my point, I wanted to address that I’m sure some of you feel just as productive wearing a suit, as you do street clothes, as you do wearing sweatpants. I’m not going to ignore that. In fact you’ve heard all of your life that the outfit makes the man and that may be an unfortunate and exhausting reality for you. You may be asking yourself, “Well is dressing up actually effective or is it just a societal norm that should be broken?” I want to share an experiment with you that will hopefully curb your opinion and cause you to take action.
We have these two business professors from Columbia and Rice University named Hajo and Galinsky and they too decided to step into the world of fashion psychology. They performed this experiment where they asked a random sample to come in to participate in the Stroop Experiment. The Stroop experiment is where you see the word brown but it’s written in pink and you have to say pink. It’s actually very difficult. Before the random sample participated in this experiment, half of the sample was asked to participate wearing their regular street clothes while the other half was asked to put on a lab coat that Hajo and Galinsky called a “doctor’s coat.” They found that those wearing the lab coat made half as many errors as those wearing their street clothes. Hajo and Galinsky decided to take it one step further and had those wearing their street clothes put on the exact same lab coat, but they called it a “painter’s coat.” Once again, those wearing the “doctor’s coat” performed better than those wearing the “painter’s coat.” Hajo and Galinksy noted this symbolic association. The doctor’s coat was invoking this “I can do it. I am capable.” mindset while the painter’s coat was invoking this discombobulated, “what even is a painter’s coat? do painter’s still wear coats?” mindset.
They coined the term enclothed cognition and defined it as involving the co-occurrence of two independent factors—the symbolic meaning of the clothes and the physical experience of wearing them (Hajo & Galinsky, 2012). I have to say this term makes my fashion self feel very smart and in the loop. NPR and ELLE Magazine decided to collaborate with Galinksy because why would you not want to do that and NPR beautifully concluded that this experiment “proves putting on clothes can change you in quiet but measurable ways at least temporarily” (ELLE, 2016).
proves putting on clothes can change you in quiet but measurable ways at least temporarily
Let’s do a little visualization moment here. If everyone intentionally got dressed everyday I think people would work harder, try harder, and feel more confident. In fact I found a survey in the Journal of Social Behavior and Personality of a random sample and those who “described themselves as properly dressed believed their attire made them look more responsible, competent, knowledgeable, professional, honest, reliable, intelligent, trustworthy, hardworking, and efficient than when not so” (Kwon, 1994).
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I also found an article in the Wall Street Journal saying that the market for men’s suits decreased by 8% in 2015 (Kapner, 2019). Have y’all ever seen the move The Intern starring Anne Hathaway and Robert De Niro? De Niro plays this sixty-some year old retiree who has decided to return to the workforce as an intern among millennial interns. All the millennials are wearing GAP, while De Niro consistently shows up to work wearing this exquisite 1960’s suit and holding a briefcase, or as he likes to call it by it’s technical name, attaché case (ooh la). Anne Hathaway makes a comment that the millennials look like boys, while De Niro looks like a whole entire gentlemen. Like I said … a confidence you didn’t know you were missing (ha!)
As a personal stylist, I do see my clients thrive in confidence when they put on an outfit they didn’t think they could pull off or when they never thought their closet had so much potential. In fact, one of my clients [and best friends, Sydney K. Borchers … hey girl!] was recently quoted in the Liberty Champion, “she can help you find a look that is not only fashion forward, but something that helps you be your most confident self” (Kazmucha, 2020). P.S. Madilyn Kazmucha did an incredible job with the article. If you have yet to check it out I would highly recommend you do so ASAP! Just click the pink link above:)
I realize fashion and intentionally getting dressed everyday isn’t a passion for all of you like it is for me but if any of this spoke to you - I do think it would be cool if you decided to tap into the confidence you didn’t know you were missing.
References
Baumgartner, J. (2012). You Are What You Wear: What your clothes reveal about you. Hachette Books.
DeVito, J.A. (2016). Essential Elements of Public Speaking (6th ed.). Pearson Higher Education.
ELLE. (2016, July 21). How Fashion Affects Your Brain [Video]. Youtube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zqaM7bQFFic
Hajo, A. & Galinsky, A.D. (2012). Enclothed cognition. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 48 (4), 919-922. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jesp.2012.02.008
Kapner, S. (2019, March 25). Men Ditch Suits, and Retailers Struggle to Adapt. The Wall Street Journal. https://www.wsj.com/articles/men-ditch-suits-and-retailers-struggle-to-adapt-11553511602
Kazmucha, M. (2020, March). Liberty Sophomore and owner of ‘AG the Look’ helps clients see the potential in their current wardrobes. Liberty Champion. B7.
Kwon, Y. (1994). Feeling toward one's clothing and self-perception of emotion, sociability, and work competency. Journal of Social Behavior and Personality, 9(1), 129.