Enclothed Cognition: How Clothes May Shape the Way We Think, Feel and Behave

What is Enclothed Cognition?

Enclothed Cognition is a phenomenon where a person’s feelings, thoughts or behaviour are influenced by the clothes they are wearing. This has been studied in fashion psychology for over a decade. When we wear clothes, it triggers the meanings we associate with the clothes. These meanings are made through abstract concepts and language that we associate with the clothing. As a result, we ‘embody’ these concepts. We feel, think or act in accordance with abstract concepts, which can lead to changes in the wearer’s cognitive processes (i.e., feelings, thoughts or behaviour).

While enclothed cognition has been studied on a wide range of clothing including formal, casual, uniform or swimwear, there are still many questions that come to mind. Why do we always feel the need to consume new clothes? According to Business of Fashion, 5.8 million tons of textiles are thrown away per annum, leading to 11.3 kg per person. Are clothes more than just garments we like – is there something going on internally?

Psychology would say yes. Statistics from Research and Metric revealed that 95% of purchasing decisions are subconscious, driven by emotional responses, rather than rational decisions. Are the trending clothes we buy driven by a fear of missing out, rather than personal taste or comfort?

In a recent survey of 208 people, 46.2% of participants agreed that clothing influenced their inner strength. Does this mean that clothing can influence our confidence or vulnerability? Similarly, 35.6% agreed that workplace productivity was influenced by their dress choice. Can clothes impact the way we perceive ourselves or help us to explore identities? Lastly, 26.9% agreed that wearing branded clothes made the wearers feel privileged and dignified. Do stereotypes and culture play a role in enclothed cognition?

Although clothing consumption rates are rising, consumers are becoming more conscious of the environmental effects. According to The Business of Fashion, 41% of consumers turn to second-hand shopping for apparel deals. This also raises questions about how wearing clothing that is second hand, or more sustainable, might make the wearer feel or act. Can the sustainability level of the clothes determine changes in our cognitive processes?

We interview Dr Carolyn Mair, Chartered Psychologist and author of The Psychology of Fashion, to answer these questions. Here, Dr Mair discusses the role of stereotypes, culture, and how clothing can be used to explore new identities of versions of ourselves.

Interview with Dr Carolyn Mair

What happens psychologically during enclothed cognition? How do physical experience and symbolic meaning interact?

The idea is that clothing may influence attention, self-perception and behaviour through both the embodied experience of wearing it and the meanings we attach to it. However, the question risks presenting enclothed cognition as a settled mechanism when the evidence is more mixed and context dependent.

Do stereotypes play a role? Can this be harmful?

Yes, because many meanings attached to clothing are socially learned, stereotypes around gender, status, professionalism, attractiveness or competence may shape our responses. That can be harmful when clothing norms reinforce prejudice or constrain how people believe they are permitted to behave.

Can clothing make us more confident, powerful, creative or desirable, or give us permission to access what was already there?

Clothing cannot reliably produce these effects, so we need to use terms of probability (can, might, could etc.). Psychologically, clothing needs to be understood as a potential cue or resource that can help facilitate particular self-perceptions and behaviours, rather than either creating qualities or simply “unlocking” a pre-existing true self.

Can clothing allow us to explore new versions of ourselves or different identities?

Yes, clothing can provide a relatively low-risk way to experiment with identity, social roles and possible selves. But it is better understood as one tool in identity construction rather than something that independently creates a new identity.

Have you experienced enclothed cognition personally?

It’s difficult to separate symbolic meaning from fit, comfort, social feedback, expectation and context. I’d therefore describe any garment that changes how I feel or behave as an anecdote rather than evidence of the phenomenon. I have a blue velvet suit that helps me feel prepared and confident when I’m giving a keynote or similar.

When vulnerable, what are we looking for: protection, familiarity, confidence, invisibility or control?

Potentially any or all of these! Familiar or physically comforting clothing may support emotional regulation, predictability, perceived safety or a sense of agency. Psychologically, we often manage vulnerability by seeking familiarity, predictability, control, social connection, reassurance, routine, preparation or even avoidance. What we wear can be one small part of that regulatory process, for example, choosing something familiar, comfortable or socially “safe”, but clothing alone is unlikely to make us feel less vulnerable. More likely it accompanies other psychological strategies we use to manage uncertainty.

How much does culture influence enclothed cognition?

Potentially substantially, because the symbolic meaning of clothing is culturally and historically situated rather than inherent in the garment itself. The same item could therefore evoke very different associations, and possibly different psychological responses across cultures, groups and individuals.

Can sustainable, second-hand or inherited clothing influence us differently because we know its story?

Possibly, but this extends beyond the realistic definition of enclothed cognition. Provenance can give clothing autobiographical, moral or relational meaning.
An inherited garment, for example, might evoke connection and memory, while sustainable clothing might reinforce someone’s values and sense of identity. Other people may have an abhorrent reaction to the thought of wearing someone else’s clothing because of stigma around poverty, or if that person has died.

Could understanding enclothed cognition encourage more conscious consumption?

Possibly, but this assumes that greater understanding will necessarily translate into more sustainable behaviour, and risks placing responsibility for systemic problems onto individual consumers.

Psychology can help us understand why certain garments acquire lasting emotional, functional or identity value, but consumption does not occur in a vacuum: it is shaped by marketing, pricing, availability, social norms and business models that often depend on accelerating consumption and novelty.

For me, the real value of applying psychological science to fashion is therefore not simply to help individuals become “better consumers”, but to understand and challenge the behaviours, incentives and industry systems that make unsustainable consumption so easy, attractive and normal.

What does the future of research look like?

The field needs larger, preregistered and more culturally diverse studies that distinguish clothing’s symbolic effects from comfort, expectation, social feedback and other confounds.

Crucially, we need to keep the scientific study of human behaviour, psychology, at the centre of the fashion industry and fashion education, not only to understand consumers and their relationships with clothing, but to examine the behaviours, decisions, cultures and systems operating across the entire fashion industry.

I’d like to see less emphasis on catchy claims that “clothes change the mind” and more rigorous psychological research into when, for whom, through which mechanisms and under what conditions fashion affects people, and how psychological science can inform more ethical and more sustainable practices across the entire industry.