Clothes make women feel a certain way about themselves. Some feel sporty, sexy, frumpy, elegant, casual, calm, energetic, beautiful, or ugly in their clothes. Why is this? Why has the media dictated feelings about clothes? Has the fashion industry dictated what is stylish? How has art played a role in the color and pattern creation? These are questions related to the mood clothes create in women.
I am mainly interested in how clothes make a person feel. One day, feeling relaxed yet tired, I chose to put on my comfortable, stretch designer jeans, my soft sporty hoody and a t-shirt, in order to reflect my mood. Although the t-shirt was a vibrant shade of blue, the hoody was a charcoal grey. So I felt energetic yet relaxed in the outfit. I had never chosen this combination before. I do have my clothes organized by similar color schemes. I usually pick pinks and brown together when I want to feel comfortable. I know that pink really is not a power color. I didn’t feel the need to exert any power. Pink is calm and soothing to me. This is when I realized that as I was consciously picking my clothes; I was subconsciously feeding my mood and expressing my feelings through my clothes.
I usually dress up for theme days and enjoy doing it. For example on royalty day, where you could dress as a king, queen, prince or princess, I chose to dress in green. I had red hair like the ogre, Princess Fiona, on the movie Shrek. Most of the people dressed up as queens, lordly men or princesses. I like to have fun. I enjoy receiving attention. I have a flair for humor. I did not have the costume or the desire to dress as a frilly princess. My personality came through in my choice of costume. The personality of the people who dressed up seemed to come through in their clothes. Many did not even dress up for the day.
I’ve noticed that some people do not know that clothes reflect personality. Some simply do not care. They may dress the way they do because of a subconscious choice. They don’t want to stand out. They don’t want to be noticed. Some make a conscious choice. They don’t want to follow the fads. They don’t want to spend a lot of money on a designer look. Some want to save the environment, so dress in natural materials. Some are animal rights activists. Clothes convey a message.
Clothes also create a mood. Soft, warm clothes make you feel comfortable. Sparkly, sexy clothes make you feel vibrant. Business suits make you feel powerful. Think of shoes. Comfortable tan mules, high-heeled red stilettos and black patent pumps all are shoes. Each creates a different mood. I don’t think it is all because of the colors.
Textures create a mood also. Soft pink angora, stretch black lace and white cashmere are all materials in a sweater. Which material makes you feel comfortable, sexy or business-like?
Art influences patterns and colors in clothes. Art itself (eg. A painting) can portray how a person feels. You can paint your feelings on your clothes and wear them. How you wear clothes is artistic expression also.
Colors, materials, textures, patterns and shape all help to add style and personality to clothes. How you feel in clothes is related to these factors. Put all together, clothes can put you in a certain mood.
There is no answer for how everything together affects us. You may wear a soft, blue angora sweater with a cream designer pullover wool sweater and pink fur slippers one day. The next day, it’s a see-through purple stretch blouse with a purple sequined camisole, black blazer and 3 ½ inch black pumps. Your red strappy Manolo Blahnik shoes with a miniskirt and leopard patterned blouse is going to evoke a different mood.
You create the mood with your clothes. You let the clothes create the mood in you. Each affects the other. Conscious decision or unconscious decision, these influences are working together.
My question was why do clothes create the mood? They do because of the feelings that colors, textures, and art invoke in you. Those feelings can be enhanced, acknowledged or ignored. You create your mood since you choose the clothes. The clothes help feed the mood. You can acknowledge what you are feeling or you can ignore it.
Clothes create the mood. We choose the clothes we wear. We recreate ourselves.
