The typical college outfit goes as follows: “sweatpants, hair tied, chillin with no make-up on” (yes, these are lyrics from Drakes song “Best I Ever Had”). Seriously though, this is beyond accurate. You wake up, hastily rummage through your closet, and throw on a random outfit. In the midst of your tired wake-up, a nice outfit simply does not seem to matter. However, how many days do you stroll around campus in your tired look feeling sluggish and out of it? I know I definitely do.
I was discussing the topic at hand with my mom and she simply said to me “look good feel good.” I have never thought of it that way. So let’s look at the science behind feeling good while looking good.
Studies have shown that your mood evidently does influence the way you dress. Feeling sad or tired could convince you to dress in baggy sweatpants. However, while feeling down you should actually dress up. Putting on a nice top or even comfy jeans could potentially lift your spirits.
Not only does dressing nice adjust your mood, but the color of your clothing could additionally have an impact. Believe it or not, each color links to a certain mood description as well. Red demands attention and power while blue has a softer tone and could help to fight stress. Yellow, or lighter shades like orange, definitely perpetuates happiness so wearing yellow could even lighten your mood.
Of course we are all going to have those days where sweat pants just feel so inviting. Looking good simply allows us to strut around with more confidence. Step out of your comfort zone on days like those and let your mind work its magic. Next time you wake up feeling sluggish and down, throw on that yellow top and smile.
sources:
http://www.glamour.com/story/color-meaning-fashion-clothing
http://www.goodlifemantra.com/look-good-feel-good-top-reasons-why-you-should-look-good/
Although Ive definitely noticed that dressing nicely affects mood, I’ve never thought about the color of clothing affecting mood. That also makes sense that baggy clothes and sweatpants are usually more monotone colors given that people wear them when they’re lazy or tired. I enjoyed reading the article you linked about which colors help with mood. Im going to try to incorporate more color into my daily outfits.
When I was in high school, one of my teachers would give extra credit if we dressed up in business casual clothing the day of a test. I was opposed to this, but since it would give me extra credit, I went ahead and did it anyway. My teacher explained to us that research has shown that dressing nicer improves academic performance. Although our class didn’t see any terrific evidence on our test scores that our dress improved our grades, I personally saw a little improvement, which was enough to make me a believer. I would definitely agree with you that dressing better makes me feel like I am physically more attractive, which in turn makes me confident. This confidence shown through on my test scores. Here is an article that it is best if we dress both stylish, but comfortable, for tests. http://www.uloop.com/news/view.php/162433/Can-Wearing-Certain-Clothing-Affect-Your-Test-Scores
I’m not surprised at the outcome of this article, because I feel so much better when I take the time in the morning to actually dress decently. I find that I just feel altogether more confident throughout the day and although confidence =/= productivity, I think being in a better mood does inspire me to do more. I also feel like wearing nice clothes promotes confidence and productivity because when I wear sweats, I do so to make a kind of “portable bed” for myself. When I look nice, I feel more inclined to get things done. I’d be more interested to look into whether mood effects productivity.