Fashion, ego & psyche: when clothes make the mood
While anthropological, sociological, and philosophical interest in fashion and its output has been well documented and conveyed for many years, psychology, psychoanalysis, and even psychiatry have remained strangely in the shadows. However, after careful consideration, one can’t help but notice that fashion and the objects it produces in order to enable people to compose their own “ornamentation” – as it is referred to in anthropology – have long been of interest to researchers in these disciplines. From the publication of works detailing the connections between fashion and the unconscious, to experiments analyzing the impact of clothing on our cognitive capacities, the incorporation of specific wardrobes in certain therapeutic treatments, and even the appropriation of the lexical field of psychology in statements made by luxury brands, let’s take a look at fashion and the cognitive sciences’ mutual attraction.