The importance of fashion and well-being

​Interestingly, fashion has an innate effect on your well-being and psychological state. Imagine seeing someone dressed in a lab coat, and you'll automatically think of science, intelligence, and respect. When a scientist wears a white lab coat, research shows that it positively affects their work and performance. The study's results show that the clothing you wear has a powerful symbolic meaning and can have measurable effects on your overall mental health.
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​​Whether you dress yourself each day intentionally or subconsciously, the clothes that you choose will visually communicate a message to the outside world. Fashion is an outlet for expressing yourself, creating an identity, and even changing how you feel. Your clothes can even influence your cognitive abilities and the perceptions that others have of you. 

Clothing can affect your attention, how you feel about yourself, and your competencies. This can be good and bad. You have probably already experienced 'off’-days where your clothes feel like your armor. You may even have imitated someone else's dress style, thinking it makes you feel beautiful or even fierce. 

But how do the clothes really make you feel? Happy, invincible, positive, uncomfortable? If the clothing makes you feel immediately uncomfortable, you are probably experiencing something called cognitive dissonance. The relationship between fashion and cognitive dissonance is a phenomenon where wearing an item of clothing can influence your psychological state. Generally, you'll possess an innate desire to avoid this discomfort and probably not wear that particular outfit again. We all love dressing up for a special Saturday night and wearing slouchy Sunday casuals for relaxing in front of a movie. Your moods and expectations can reflect what you wear. 

Fashion has a huge effect on your life, confidence, and self-esteem. You'll see it everywhere you look, whether it's on social media, billboards, magazines, or in your peer group. It's known to alter cultures, cities, and individuals, both positively and negatively. Fashion also affects environmental, economic, and social issues. It allows you to blend in or stand out from the crowd. Fashion forges friendships, particularly in youthful circles, by creating a sense of belonging. It can display our attitudes, feelings, and moods and reflect our taste or that of a group or club. It's a clever form of mass communication. There are negative undertones particularly if fashion replaces your inner-self.

Fashion is cultural. It can show the joys of a country without having to wear anything too trendy. The world is full of colorful fabrics, styles, and cuts. You might even be able to identify which country a person comes from purely by their national costume. It makes you all unique. Fashion can demonstrate your social status. Fashion has changed dramatically in the last 20-years. It's gone from the almost anorexic look to introducing plus-size and dark-skinned models on fashion runways and the front covers of magazines. There are no longer as many obstacles. Fashion is exciting. What does your style say about you?