I learned a long time ago that clothes change how I feel by building confidence. At the beginning I noticed the style of clothes changed how I felt. I noticed whenever I wore classic tailored clothes I felt more like me. Whenever I put on a bohemian style outfit I felt like I was wearing someone else’s clothes or I was hiding.
I also noticed that I like to wear woven fabrics over knits. When wearing an outfit totally made of knit I felt like I was wearing someone else’s clothes.
Whenever I wore round toe shoes I felt uncomfortable but when I slipped on square or pointed toe shoes I felt more like me.
The same thing happened when I put on a shawl collar jacket compared to one with an angular lapel. What I didn’t know at that time was I had an angular face shape which gave me the clue to angular lapel shape. A shawl collar has a curved shape.
Clothes Change How You Feel
Clothes change how you feel. Why not wear clothes that build your confidence.
When working as an accountant I saw women who were able to get their ideas heard and were being promoted and they wore clothes that fit them well. At the same time I saw women who weren’t able to get their ideas heard and were not getting promoted. They wore clothes that didn’t fit them well.
This is why I started my research project to figure out why some women were getting their ideas heard and being promoted while others just as smart and capable were not.
I realized that clothes were a factor in how these women projected themselves.
Clothes change how you feel. Do you want to be building confidence or taking it away?
Over the years has your confidence decreased because your ideas aren’t being heard? Are you getting the promotions or jobs you’re qualified for and really want? Today you can learn how to start building confidence through clothes.
Enclothed Cognition
Research agrees clothes can change how you feel. Researchers call it enclothed cognition: The systematic influence that clothes have on the wearer’s psychological processes.
Enclothed Cognition — The systematic influence that clothes have on the wearer’s psychological processes.
The Journal Of Experimental Social Psychology first published the enclothed cognition phenomenon in its February, 2012 publication. Researchers began studying test subjects wearing lab coats with no professions attached. The results showed that the test subjects’ attention increased. Next, they studied the test subjects wearing lab coats associated with professions: painter or doctor. The results showed that when the test subjects wore painter lab coats, there was no difference in attention. However, when the test subjects wore doctor lab coats their attention increased.
In a study published in August, 2013 named City Employee Perceptions of the Impact of Dress and Appearance: You Are What You Wear, researchers studied the impact of clothes (casual vs business casual vs business formal) on city employees. They specifically look at:
- Creativity
- Productivity
- Trustworthiness
- Authority
- Friendliness
- Confidence
Next, a study published in the December, 2014 issue of Journal of Experimental Psychology: General concluded that wearing informal clothes could hurt negotiations. Men wore either suits or sweats. The men played a game which they had to negotiate on a one-on-one basis. The men who wore the suits negotiated more profitable deals than the other group.
Finally, a study published in August, 2015, called The Cognitive Consequences of Formal Clothing found that wearing formal work clothes increases enclothed cognition. It concluded that clothes change abstract thinking which suggested a correlation between the subjects’ feeling of power and wearing formal work clothes.
Enclothed Cognition -- Building Confidence
The question is — how can you use enclothed cognition in building your confidence? The first step is to be aware of how clothes make you feel. Do you feel light or heavy? (Your Body Knows) If you feel light then you’re on the right track. However, if you feel neutral or heavy then you’re not on the right track. You know you need to wear something different.
Step 2 is to start understanding your body and the clues it gives you. You have 5 Body Elements that gives you clues as to which design lines and colors enhance your body. When you wear design lines and colors that enhance your body, your confidence naturally increases.
Your 5 Body Elements are:
You can determine your Body Elements and the clues they give you in my workbook “Beauty Fashioned Simply – What To Wear.” In the workbook are exercises to determine your Body Elements and the clues they give you. The workbook is a PDF which you download, print and put in a 3 ring binder so you can complete all the exercises. Want to get started today? Get Beauty Fashioned Simply — What To Wear.
You can also learn more about the 5 Body Elements by signing up for my free one hour webinar October 20, 2020 at 6 PM (PST). In it you will get a bird’s eye view of all five Body Elements and the clues they give. Sign up today.
There is no reason not to start building confidence today. You can do it by changing the clothes you wear.
Start Wearing Your Greatness.
