Why clothing? It can bring you from who you are to who you want to be

Occasionally someone asks me “why clothing?” Why not something broader like lifestyle or life coaching or design in general? Clothing is so specific?

Other than 1) clothing is fun, 2) clothing and design is where my expertise is, and 3) I don’t know what you should do with your pantry and only pretend to know how to fold a fitted sheet.

Other than all that, I talk about clothes because clothing intersects with every aspect of our lives, and everything eventually shows up in your closet.

Why clothing: personal development

From a personal development and coaching perspective: the challenges you’re working on in life are present in your closet.

: Struggle letting go? Your closet has 98% of the clothes you’ve ever bought.
: Overshopping? Your closet is stuffed to the gills.
: Things going fine but stagnating? Your clothes are just fine, and your style is stagnating.
: Fighting yourself in showing up for your work, your life, your business? You’re probably not wearing the clothes and styles you actually want to wear.
: Feeling a little all over the place? That will eventually show up in your style too.

By working on these life themes in your closet, you also work on them in your life. With the win-win of elevating your style at the same time.

Why clothing: personal image

From a personal style as personal image perspective: the way we show up and present ourselves impacts how we see ourselves (which in turn impacts how we act and perform) and influences how others perceive us (which in turn impacts how we can move about the world).

As Scientific American puts it in this article “…a growing body of research suggests that there is something biological happening when we put on a snazzy outfit and feel like a new person.”

That article Dress for Success: How Clothes Influence Our Performance highlights studies on:

• Increased abstract thinking when wearing “formal business attire” attributed to feeling powerful
• Informal vs formal clothing impacting negotiations (informal dress = less profitable deal)
• The impact of wearing a white lab coat vs white painters coat on focus
• Changes in athletic performance (but notably not victory) when wearing red vs blue jerseys
• Interesting implications about “unethical behavior” when wearing fake sunglasses. The authors “theorize that counterfeit glasses increase unethical behavior by making their wearers feel less authentic.”
• Slightly breaking norms can be perceived favorably, even though breaking social norms is generally not (for better and for worse).

We can use our clothing to change how we think about ourselves, and to influence (though certainly not guarantee) how other people see us.

A moment for a quick aside

Quick aside: given how of-two-minds our broader culture is about the importance of clothing I’m always pleasantly surprised that anyone is funding research into the psychology and impact of clothing even though they are small laboratory studies.

Fashion is generally seen as frivolous and unserious (also read: coded feminine), while at the same time a $1.7 trillion to $2.5 trillion industry (depending on the year, source, and what sectors are considered part of fashion); unserious and serious at the same time. And though this attitude is changing, it is slow.

(And there has been more research into clothing’s role in society from the history, sociology, anthropology lenses, especially fashion history and the history of dress but we are getting off topic – maybe another day.)

Why clothing: styling

Finally from a styling perspective: clothing is fun and design is where my background expertise is. Clothing gives us the opportunity to embrace our self-expression every time we get dressed. It can be as deep as expressing who we are and what we’re here to do. Or as light as “let’s see what this looks like.”

In short, why clothing? Because it can be a portal from who we are to who we want to be.