Do Clothes Affect Your Mood/Performance?

Do you ever find yourself waking up and deciding on the perfect outfit to wear that day? Your main goal may be to find an outfit you love, but did you know that picking out an outfit to wear could be affecting you more than you think? Research shows that the clothes you wear could actually affect your mood and performance throughout the day.

Professor Karen Pine of the University of Hertfordshire is an expert in fashion psychology. Pine did research that has shown that putting on different clothes creates different thoughts and mental processes, thus clothes change our mood and performance. We choose plain clothing when we are in a gloomy mood because we want anonymity. We choose well-fitting, brighter clothes when we are in a happy mood. If we make an effort to wear clothing that we associate with happiness, we will feel confident. Some research says it is important to let go of clothes that we associate with negative emotions such as a breakup or losing a job. If you open up your wardrobe to these clothes it automatically gives you negative thoughts and feelings. Whereas, if you open your wardrobe to clothes that you feel confident in and associate with positive emotions, you will feel happy.

Clothes can also have an effect on your workout performance. They can make you want to exercise and they can make you work harder during a workout. If you put on workout clothes that you love they can help push you to workout. This is because you are more likely to work out in clothes that you enjoy putting on rather than clothes that aren’t your favorite. “I feel like it does make a difference in the clothes I wear when working out. When I have activewear on, I have a much better workout and I am in a better mood,” said sophomore Rebbeca Williams.

The clothes you wear can affect more than just your workout and your mood. They can affect your performance at work, school, or anywhere else. Most of the time someone’s outfit says more than you think. People usually dress how they feel, which can make or break their day. If you wear “confident clothing” it can improve your day in a few ways. They can boost your productivity, motivation, thought process, and negotiation skills. Confident clothes are clothes that make you feel comfortable, happy, and confident. They are clothes that you put on in the morning and say,“I look good today.” There are also clothes that aren’t so confident. These clothes tend to be clothes that people use to cover up insecurities, or comfort them on a bad day. Believe it or not, this all feeds into how you perform at school or work. Dressing comfortably at school and work is shown to boost test scores and increase productivity. “I prefer dressing comfortably at school because I feel as if I get more done when I am comfortable,” said sophomore Kimmie Bond. A big reason behind increased productivity when wearing comfortable clothes is that comfort usually correlates to confidence. A less strict dress code lets people express themselves through clothing and this stimulates creative thinking. Productivity and creativity create a positive environment.

Professor Karen Pine has a book called “Mind What You Wear.” Pine’s book goes into detail about how clothes have the power to change our mind. She backs this up with evidence from her studies. This is a great book to read if you want to go deeper into the subject.

Overall there is one thing that is made very clear. There is definitely a direct link between your mood/performance and the clothes you wear. With this now being known, you might want to think twice about what you put on in the morning.