What Is Dopamine Dressing?

Every time I’ve been on social media recently, I’ve come across articles on dopamine dressing. Apparently it has been predicted as being the trend of 2022!

What is Dopamine Dressing?

Dopamine dressing is actually quite simple. It is dressing with the intention of boosting your mood. We all associate different colours with mood. E.g. Yellow is happy, blue is calming. If you associate your yellow t-shirt with happiness then it will create a feeling of happiness when you wear it.

Obviously these feelings are subjective. For example, studies have shown that people are perceived as having more authority when wearing black, so if your aim is to feel more confident then you may want to pick an outfit in that colour. As your aim has now been met then you are bound to feel a sense of happiness.

I feel like when it comes to dressing I have two styles. The first is all black outfits which do look chic and are incredibly easy to just throw on. The second is vibrant, eye-catching, and requires a little more thought.

From the beginning of lockdown until now I’ve hardly been going anywhere. It’s been very easy to slip into the habit of throwing on a black pair of leggings and a hoodie. And, while this is the most comfortable outfit EVER, does it do anything positive for my mood? I think back to this time last year when I hired the most amazing dress from HURR Collective for my birthday. I don’t know whether it was the chance to dress up, the Giambattista Valli dress, or the vibrant red colour but I remember feeling amazing.

A fresh start

I’m definitely stuck in a rut style wise. Like many people I’m looking in my wardrobe and feeling uninspired. I think because I haven’t had the need to go anywhere, I haven’t felt like I should be spending my money updating my wardrobe. I still have a lot of staples like faux leather trousers and jeans etc but my wardrobe definitely needs some life injecting back into it. In a lot of ways I am drawn to vibrant clothing. I feel like it helps me to express my personality more without me having to say or do anything.

The first thing I’m going to do is work out what colours and items of clothing I associate with happiness and confidence, and start wearing those. It does remind me a bit of Marie Kondo and asking whether each item sparks joy, which I actually tried back in 2017. I have always been the type of person to wear whatever I want. I’ve never been bothered by other people’s opinions. I think it is more important to wear something that you feel good in.

Getting out of my comfort zone

Even though I’m not worried what other people think of my outfits, there are times when I think maybe I shouldn’t wear something because I might look overdressed. I do think that it is better to be overdressed rather than underdressed if you are going somewhere. I would rather look like I had cared enough to make an effort.

Recently I went into Cambridge with my sister. As it was quite spur of the moment I was wearing leggings and a hoodie. I caught sight of my reflection in a shop mirror and was appalled. I looked absolutely awful! If I had shown a picture of how I looked to myself 10 years ago, I would not be impressed that was what I had to look forward too.

It was a bit of a wake up call and now I’m going to buy and wear whatever makes me happy. I want to be able to pick out anything from my wardrobe and know that I look and feel great.