Mental health is becoming an increasing issue across the world today. Significantly, in this lockdown, the cases of mental illness have increased a lot. Fashion can inspire confidence and allow us to flourish. However, like everything else in life, every coin has two sides; its pros and cons. The technique can improve your mental health or even degrade your mental health. It depends on the way how you choose a style that affects you. Body image, peer pressure, and others can cause manner detrimental to our mental health. If you are an environmentally conscious consumer, the task of updating your wardrobe and staying up to date with the fashion trends without the guilt of mindless shopping can be really daunting. Also, the increase in the number of style bloggers and the never-stopping social media creates a desire to want what other people have. The middle name of the fashion industry is glamour. The people within the industry seem to live extraordinary perfect lives, but it also profoundly affects consumer lives. Let’s go into an intrinsic detail of how fashion affects mental health.
Fashion expression has a positive impact:
Every one of us occasionally expresses ourselves through clothing style and apparel. Fashion plays a vital role in being connected with society and fitting in. Particularly, those who have difficulty expressing themselves through words and tend towards introversion can benefit from using fashion expression to show their personalities, resulting in a mental health boost. Additionally, what people wear gives them a sense of confidence and self-worth. This creates a positive impact on us to showcase the best.
Environmental Impact of fashion on mental health:
Many individuals are aware of the environmental impact of fashion on mental health. It is estimated that the fashion industry makes the most prominent negative contribution to the planet. As such, the guilt of indiscriminate shopping of fashion wears on an environmentally conscious person can disrupt their inner peace. Therefore, clothing choices and associations can affect your psychology, and the consequences or effects thereof on work and other functions can be measured. Clothes can be convenient and comfortable or powerful and symbolic. Unknown to many people, you can make clothes to give a positive statement. The right clothes for you can serve as encouragement for yourself, as well as a message to express who you are.
On the other hand, clothes can also affect you negatively in many ways. It can affect you negatively if it’s unflattering and worn on a bad day or when you discover how flattering your clothes look on you as supposed to someone else or how the outfit didn’t fit you as you thought it would.
Impact of social media on fashion and health:
If we look at the effect of social media on our life right now, it isn’t easy to imagine a life without it. There is often someone engaging on social media platforms or anywhere you turn. We often use social media to see the posts of our friends or others and post our pictures because we feel FOMO (Fear of missing out). Although this mental state has existed for some time, the launch of social media sites like Facebook Instagram has exacerbated this problem. The idea of missing out on the latest fashion trends can trigger anxiety, affect self-esteem, and create an unnecessary sense of demand. The best way to recover from this fear is by having a sense of self-fulfilment.
Choose colours that don’t affect mental health:
Certain shades elicit moods when it comes to colour that can impact mental health. Some colours even cite mood impacts like:
- Blue- blue is an antidepressant colour and relaxing to the viewer.
- Green- Green can reduce anxiety and have a calming effect on the viewer.
- Red, pink, and purple: These colours can inspire a sense of purpose and optimism.
How to pick an outfit?
A common question is whether to pick an outfit because you like it or want to feel like it? When choosing the company of the day, wear it because you want to feel like it. Take control, set a goal, set your standards, and shape your frame of mind because you’ll most likely shape for the better.
Choice of fashion is yours to make, but the non-verbal communication. What you may consciously or subconsciously, even sometimes unwittingly, send across can mean differently for you compared to others. It can mean encouragement or discomfort. Ultimately fashion is a powerful communicator. Fashion is a boon to society; we take it seriously to affect our mental health. Don’t take anything seriously which is neither good for yourself nor the community. It is good to be updated with fashion, but at the same time, you should also know when to stop yourself. Connect with people more by socialising with them and having fun with people; these outfits are just a mere way to attract people. People get impressed with a joyful nature more than looks. Be connected and stay happy.
