~ and why you should care about it!

“Fashion Psychology” does sound like a made-up term or even that someone has created a meme of a blazer with the caption ‘Now, tell me about a time when…..’ on Instagram.

I assure you it isn’t either of those things. And despite the name, it’s not even about being fashionable either.

Fashion Psychology is essentially the study of the intrinsic relationship between what we wear, how we think, how we feel and behave.

And THAT, gentle reader, is where it gets interesting.

Getting dressed is one of those things most of us do every single day without really thinking about what’s going on underneath, and I don’t mean beneath the clothes.

We open the wardrobe.

We reject approximately 732 things.

We announce that we have NOTHING TO WEAR, all while standing in front of enough clothing to survive a small apocalypse.

So, we put something on.

We take it off.

We put something else on.

We question every part of our reflections: stomach / arms / boobs / age and of course, our life choices too, you know just for fun *eye roll*

Eventually settling for a very average “that’ll do”, carrying that very average feeling into the rest of our day *sigh*

Which is precisely why I care about Fashion Psychology, because clothes aren’t simply sitting there looking pretty. They are interacting with your storytelling and identity.

~With memory.

~With belonging.

~With body image.

~With confidence.

~With social expectations.

~ With the roles we play.

~ With how other people perceive us.

~ And, perhaps most fascinatingly, with how we perceive ourselves.

Research into clothing and cognition has even explored whether the clothes we wear can influence psychological processes such as attention and behaviour.

In other words:

You don’t only think about your clothes.
Your clothes can affect the way you think about YOU.

MIC DROP MOMENT.

Which is why I’ll ask my clients questions like:

~ Why do you keep buying clothes for a version of yourself who doesn’t actually exist?

~ Why is there an outfit in your wardrobe that makes you stand differently the second you put it on?

~ Why do you automatically reach for certain clothes when you need courage?

~ Why are you still following style rules you learned 20 years ago?

~ Why do you keep saving your “good clothes” for a life you’re supposedly going to live later?

And then something to reflect on: when your identity changes, can your wardrobe suddenly feel like it belongs to somebody else?

THAT is Fashion Psychology.

Or at least, that’s the small corner of a huge subject that I’m obsessed with.

Style isn’t just about creating an aesthetically pleasing collection of clothes, or having a rainbow-ordered wardrobe (though, how lush does that look!)

For me, it’s about the relationship between:

Who I Am → What I Wear → How I Feel → How I Behave → How I Show Up.

When those things start working together, Getting Dressed for IT stops being quite so bloody complicated.

This is why my work goes beyond personal styling as a standalone offering. I rely on my ‘Style-Box’ full of my tricks of the trade in colour analysis, silhouettes, personality and archetypes, identity coaching, style coaching, lived personal experiences, hundreds of hours spent with clients AND Fashion Psychology.

I’m not trying to turn you into someone who is “good at fashion”.

I’m obsessed with helping you understand yourself well enough that your clothes actually make sense for you.

~ Your identity.

~ Your lifestyle.

~ Your body.

~ Your personality.

~ Your energy.

~ Your ambitions.

The woman you are now, and the woman you’re becoming.

Because perhaps the question has never been:

“What should I wear?”

Instead, ask:

“Who am I when I wear this?”

And THAT, my friends, in short, is why you should give a F about Fashion Psychology.

Now, let’s Get YOU Dressed For IT! ~whatever your IT is!

Your Style~ReBELLE~In~Chief

Victoria xo

ps) HOT OFF THE PRESS: Newly certified Fashion Psychologist in the house 🎓💁🏼‍♀️ You can read my post about this HERE.