Fashion is much more than just about appearance. It is a powerful tool that can positively affect our mental health and mood. It can shape how we think and view ourselves too. Fashion has psychological effects and understanding these can help us to understand our daily fashion choices and how we feel about ourselves when wearing them.
Explore how fashion affects our mental health and mood and find out how you can curate a mood-boosting and meaningful wardrobe that makes you feel good and look good.
Fashion and mental health: Their connection
Fashion is closely connected with mental health and mood. The clothes that you wear can reflect your personality and influence your emotions and self-perception. There are many key ways that fashion can impact your mental health and mood.
Self-expression
Fashion is a powerful tool to express yourself to others through every detail you wear. You can show your uniqueness, creativity and individuality through curated outfits and statement pieces, showing the world who you are in a visually appealing way. Wearing outfits that resonate with who you are can easily enhance your confidence, self-esteem and authenticity.
Social perception
The way in which you present yourself through your clothing and accessories significantly impacts the way others perceive you. If you dress well, it can bring lots of positive social interactions which can make you feel good about yourself and put you in a good mood. These interactions can also boost self-esteem, build confidence in yourself, contribute to a sense of belonging and improve communication skills.
Boosting mood
Colours, textures and clothing styles can directly affect your mood. Bright and bold colours, like yellow and red, can bring positive emotions. These colours can make you happy and energetic, ready to conquer the world and take on whatever the day brings. More earth tones, such as blue and green, can bring you calm and peace, helping you to relax. Neutral colours, like whites, browns, blacks and greys, can evoke feelings of calmness, warmness, and comfort. However, if overused, these colours can start to bring negative feelings, especially grey and black, as these are commonly associated with sadness, death and bad weather which all negatively affect our mood.
How different styles affect our mood
Fashion doesn’t positively affect all our moods in the same way. Every person may find that certain styles, patterns and colours will uplift their mood while others won’t. However, different styles can affect our mood positively, it’s just all about finding what lifts your spirit for you through trial and error. To help you with this process, outlined below are how a few clothing choices can impact your mental health:
- Choosing items of clothing that fit you well and feel comfortable can significantly change your mental state. Clothes that enhance your style and body, due to fitting perfectly, can boost confidence while reducing discomfort.
- Using unique and statement pieces to express yourself and show your individuality can improve your self-esteem. Not only that, but it can spark creativity and allow you to explore who you are, leading to a positive mindset.
- Wearing colours to enhance your mood is a great way to feel good. Bright colours can boost energy levels and calming tones can bring you peace.
- Wearing motivating clothes helps you to conquer the day and stay motivated no matter what you’re doing. On casual days wear athleisure pieces as these still spark motivation in a comfortable way. It can make you feel energetic and encourages a positive mindset that aligns with health.
Creating a positive well-being wardrobe
To enhance your mental health daily, you can easily create a positive well-being wardrobe that busts negative emotions and thoughts. There are multiple ways to achieve a positive well-being wardrobe, but the tips below can help you get started.
Choose pieces that showcase who you are
Stray away from popular trends by only selecting pieces that resonate with you and show who you are authentically. This could be through unique clothing which could have bold colours or patterns that don’t fit into the “norm” but make you happy. It could even be as simple as understated everyday jewellery for men and women. Whatever you love that expresses you, you can feel more confident in yourself and feel grounded daily.
Be comfortable
Feeling and being physically comfortable can help you to feel at ease mentally. If you choose clothing and accessories that prioritise comfort, you can feel happier, more motivated to complete daily tasks and less stressed during a hectic day. This is all because you can comfortably move around and breathe easily.
Shop mindfully
Many times, it is easier to impulse buy and consume more, leaving you with too many items especially as fast fashion is so cheap and readily available. However, when you shop mindfully and avoid impulse buying, you can focus better on finding quality pieces that you love. These pieces are long-lasting so you can wear them time and time again for years on end, allowing you to shop less and focus on important things in your life more. This reinforces a positive relationship with your wardrobe too.
Invest in feel-good fabrics
Choosing comfortable and high-quality fabrics can make a huge difference in how you feel. If something doesn’t feel nice on your skin, it can instantly put you in a bad mood and bring feelings of irritation to you throughout the day. Natural fibres like cotton or bamboo are soft on the skin which can make you feel calm, content and motivated.
Create go-to looks for hard days
Create a few outfits that instantly make you feel good and keep them stored safely for those hard days when you need a mood boost. Doing this can instantly make you feel happier and increase your confidence, eliminating any negative emotions from the bad day. Once you’re wearing your mood-boosting outfit, try some calming and fun activities.
Fashion is so much more than just clothes. It provides us with confidence and a positive mental state that allows us to be the best versions of ourselves every day. Try being more mindful of your outfits and carefully select things that make you feel good and that express who you are. If you feel good while looking good, then nothing can dampen your day.
