The Psychological Impact of Clothing

People often refer to items of clothing as their lucky jeans and believe wearing them for important days like interviews or auditions can bring them success. Some people wear outfits that they feel attract others when they wear them. Conversely a bad experience in a certain outfit can lead us to reject that item in the future. School uniforms serve to identify a specific group and also to counteract competitiveness, it could be argued that uniforms serve to dispense with the individual and create a group identity. When we see someone in the street in uniform such as an Army member or a Garda they immediately stand out and command respect. These kinds of uniforms represent power and respect. A famous psychological experiment by researcher Philip Zimbardo involved giving two groups of people roles as guards or prisoners. The prisoners were stripped of their regular clothes and given prison style uniforms and ID numbers. These changes isolated the prisoners making it harder for them to be seen as individuals by the guards. The guards had authority and power over the prisoners and treated them badly. The outcome of the experiment resulted in the guards becoming cruel and sadistic towards the prisoners and the prisoners becoming more and more helpless and depressed in their situation. It gives us an insight into how powerful uniform is and how important clothing is to express ones individuality. (Zimbardo,1971.) Another experiment carried out by researchers at Northwestern University Illinois divided participants into two groups, each was given a white coat to wear and asked to carry out a simple task. One group were told their coat was a painters smock and the other a doctors coat. The group who were told their coat was a doctors tended to be more careful and thorough in their task. Certainly our associations with clothing have a powerful effect on our subconscious and psychological processes. Some people use certain types of clothing to distinguish themselves as part of a certain social group without actually wearing a uniform. For example people who identify with goth culture may wear a lot of black. In Japan the Harajuku district is frequented by teenagers and young people wearing outrageous outfits, very colourful and intricate, usually heavily accessorised and equally dramatic hair and makeup. At a first glance these outfits may all seem similar but there are distinct divides and subgroups such as gothic Lolita visual kei and cosplay. Different characters, cultures and caricatures are portrayed through their wild costumes. It may look like a fancy dress party on steroids to the outsider but the Harajuku style once a subculture, has attracted a lot of mainstream attention. In her 2004 song Harajuku Girls the stylish Gwen Stefani applauds their style and even incorporated four Harajuku styled dancers and performers into her videos and shows. Certain colours cause us to have psychological reactions when we see others wearing them. It has been proven that men rate women wearing red as more attractive and more interested in sex. Red is a colour we associate with sexuality and passion. A study of Olympic uniforms by anthropologists at Durham University found that evenly matched athletes in the 2004 Games who wore red in boxing, tae kwon do and freestyle wrestling defeated those wearing blue 60 percent of the time. The researchers suggested that red, for athletes as for animals, symbolizes dominance. We are generally instructed to wear black to an interview but apparently blue has a pleasing effect and is attributed to interview success. Navy blue is a good choice as it still serious but without being as somber as black. Black represents

power and authority but can make you look unapproachable. We wear black to funerals as a representation of mourning and loss. Black signifies formality, occasion and dignity. Even though it is a dark color it can be very striking if worn appropriately. Logos and revealing clothing are another way we draw attention to ourselves. Certain name brands are synonymous with certain social groups and we can use clothing to define ourselves as members of those social groups. Many clothing labels use celebrities to endorse their clothing but some brands have even offered gauche celebrities and reality stars money not to wear their clothes! Many people use designer brands as a means of validation, they feel portraying wealth is a way to be accepted by others. Others choose casual clothing like tracksuits or even wearing pyjamas and onesies in public as a way of demanding their comfort or rejecting convention. Wearing pyjamas in public either suggests that you are very comfortable with yourself and refuse to get dressed or that you dont care about your appearance. This has become a common phenomenon in many urban areas with some public places refusing admittance to pyjama-clad people. RTE even commissioned a programme about the pyjama girls. What our clothing says to us and about us is powerful way for us to express ourselves and our personalities. Clothing is how we show the world what we want it to see of us, a hard worker, a wealthy person, a deadbeat, a stylish person, a busy mother. A familiar old item can make you more confident and happy than a brand new ill-fitting garment. Ultimately our clothing is a reflection of our own lifestyles, behaviours and consumer choices. As Mark Twain famously said Clothes make the man, naked people have little or no influence on society.