Wear It ‘Till You Feel It

If you find yourself automatically reaching for the hoodie in the morning, you might want to think again. It’s not as harmless as it looks.

An often-overlooked aspect of style is that it can affect or even transform your mood and behavior. While your clothes can express your personality and daily emotions, the opposite is also true!

So the question I have for you today is:

Do your clothes tend to feel like you, or is it the other way around?

If you suspect the latter, I have a few strategies you can try. These are great ways to shake up your routine, spice up an otherwise ordinary excursion, or just to test your own reliance on clothing!

1) Dress up.

Back in high school, I wore the most gorgeous pair of copper-toned stilettos… to my AP tests (read: testing hell.) My friends would slump in still wearing their pajamas and look incredulously at my feet. But sitting in high heels for three hours was a breeze. They made me feel more alert and infinitely better about scratching in never-ending ovals with a #2 pencil.

Think about it: when you’re wearing black-tie attire, you probably stand and walk with extra poise. Baggy clothes, on the other hand, can produce a lazy sense of comfort that brings out the procrastinator in all of us.

For everyday dressing, kick it up a notch from what you would normally wear. This could be as simple as wearing something with buttons or tucking fresh flowers into your hair.

2) The White Umbrella Strategy

Have you noticed how many frazzled commuters huddle miserably under their dark umbrellas on rainy days? I am convinced there’s a correlation.

What to do? Figure out what colors a specific situation seems to call for, then wear the opposite. Corporate office monochromy getting you down? Try jewel tones or vivid patterns. I once saw a bank teller sport a bright turquoise button-down. Wear a floral tank top to the gym. Go crazy with a poppy-red wedding dress or step just outside your comfort zone with a striped tie.

If the thought of wearing something makes your eyebrows go up, chances are it’ll produce a tangible emotional effect when you wear it.

As for me, I love to rock this rebel on a stormy day in New York, where angry oversized black umbrellas poke you in the face for blocks at a time.

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These are, hands-down, my two best tricks for harnessing some fashionable therapeutic energy, but be on the lookout for future restyling posts with additional ideas. If you have any of your own, do tell!

The truth is, even the most stylishly in-tune, emotionally-balanced among us could use a little help from our wardrobes sometimes. Unlike celebrity diets and the latest get-rich-quick facebook spam, “Wear it ’till you feel it” is in fact a quick fix!

It can take some trial and error to get right, but with a little ingenuity, you can figure out what exactly you want to feel like, then dress accordingly. It’s practically magic.

Try it for yourself, let me know how it goes!