Is fashion dictating the way we should live?
Recently, there has been a surge in lifestyle elements being incorporated into fashion and beauty retail experiences. Young people are increasingly turning to design, music and food, not just fashion, to showcase their tastes and status. Find out what psychology has to say about how the way we live is impacting our fashion choices.
We are constantly co-creating with the world around us, allowing it to shape us and shaping it.
What we wear plays an important role in our lives and how we move through the world - aiding self-expression, connection and the formation of our identities.
But what happens when the environment dictates how we dress? Between climate change, a focus on ‘cores’ and ‘aesthetics’ and a newfound love of design among the younger generation, it seems we are currently in a lifestyle era. Our fashion choices are increasingly being influenced by how we live our lives - the habits, activities and status signals.
So how, in what ways, and why might our fashion choices be shaped by how we live?
Stuff is where the heart is
Community and social connection are key to living a healthy life. However, modern lives are increasingly solitary. Loneliness rates are rising and have been linked to increased mortality risk, and we lack a meaningful 3rd space, especially in the context of working from home, the pitfalls of social media and a cost-of-living crisis. We lack the spaces and places to be without paying.
This need for community and connection can be seen in the rise of member clubs, online networks and subscription-based communities, such as those on Twitch, Discord and Substack.
Could the lack of connection be feeding into our rates of depression and anxiety? To assuage these feelings do we then buy stuff? Could these negative feelings be contributing to our overconsumption?
Our emotions greatly influence our shopping decisions. Behavioural science research has shown that most decisions are made by the subconscious, the part of our minds that we aren't really aware of.
In the context of our stressful lives, guided by our emotions, we may opt to consume fashion in a way that makes us feel better, engaging in some retail therapy.
Research has shown that shopping can make us feel better. Shopping can provide a positive distraction, an escape, an indulgence, an elevation in self-esteem, a sense of control, and critically, social connection. Therefore, it seems using shopping as a therapeutic tool can help us, with minimal negative consequences observed as a result.
We also see the use of fashion behaviours to help us feel better reflected in instances of ‘dopamine dressing’ and the rise of trends that focus on fun. For example, cosplaying screen-accurate outfits is Gen-Z latest obsession.
Partaking in these trends can enable connections and allow people to access the shared positive feelings and memories with the group.
Thus, fashion may be being used as a means to enhance our well-being and our lives.
Food, fun and…fashion?
Not only may we want to shop our pains away and dress up as a way to enrich our lives, but we also want more immersive encounters out of our shopping experiences.
There is more of a focus on experiences among the younger generation- holidays, going out, eating out, activities and events. This desire is reflected in our current retail wishes, too - we want lifestyle elements incorporated and to have more experiential elements, when shopping. Further, there is some evidence to suggest that shoppers are shunning e-commerce in favour of physical retail experiences in stores.
For example, a popular fashion and lifestyle brand, Aimé Leon Dore, has a café connected to its clothing store. They even went viral for their coffee. It would seem that their food offerings are as sought-after as their clothing. Their website also states how they “embody real community through meticulous craft and taste”.
Other brands seem to be taking note, Harrods is even setting up a private members club.
Hinting at the popularity and effectiveness of tapping into lifestyle communities and championing experiences within the context of fashion.
Designcore - the latest trend?
The rise in ‘cores’ and #aesthetics has seen fashion styles and ways of dressing, shape how we live our lives. It seems young people are adopting the lifestyle of the trend, not just the aesthetics.
The ‘clean girl’ aesthetic encapsulates this well - not only does she dress chicly, but she lives a life of perfectly curated efficiency. Her routine of 5 am starts, bullet journalling, green smoothies, gyming and doing laundry are evident in her polished and clean appearance and minimalist outfits.
One of the latest iterations of this - coined ‘Tomato Girl Summer’ showcases young people’s increased appetite for a wardrobe that matches how they wish to live.
But haven’t we always been this way?
Fashion is an embodiment of ourselves - our thoughts, feelings, moods, identity and politics, and thus how we choose to show up in the world. Think of the punks of the 70’s and 80’s - who for them it was not just a way of dressing but a way of being too.
Arguably, there has always been a relationship between our clothes and our lifestyle choices, and what we see today, is perhaps just the modern iteration.
However, there is evidence to suggest that cultural capital has become the ‘new cool’.
In lieu of actual capital, young people have turned to their possessions as a way of showcasing their status.
It has been suggested that being able to design and curate your space is the new status symbol, a way of signalling you have taste and gaining “clout”. Interior design has become more popular among the younger generation. The spaces they inhabit now act as an extension of, and a way of showing off online, their style.
Through their possessions, young people are able to acquire status, at a time when they no longer have access to previous signifiers, such as being on the property ladder.
In addition, cult beauty products can offer consumers cultural capital, and brands are even utilising music platforms as a way of building cultural relevance. Fashion, media and entertainment are converging, with the stars of today increasingly sitting at the intersection of all three.
Showcasing, the growing trend of lifestyle elements in fashion and the link between our way of living and fashion choices.
Are our clothes dictating the way we live?
There has always been a relationship between how we dress and how we live our lives. However, changes to our lifestyles are producing interesting effects on our clothing choices and fashion consumption.
The solitariness of modern lives, marked by a lack of social connection, may be influencing us to shop our pains away. We also want more immersive, community-based encounters out of our shopping experiences.
Further, interior design has become more popular among the younger generation, acting as an extension of, and a way of showing off online, their taste. Instead of actual capital, young people have turned to their possessions as a way of signalling their status.
Perhaps this is just a modern iteration of behaviour which is as old as time, but the trends we see in the deepening link between fashion, lifestyles and culture suggest our fashion choices are increasingly being shaped by, and are shaping, how we live.
Final thoughts:
Does your lifestyle influence the way you dress?
Does what you wear matter for how you live your life?
I would love to know what you think! Let me know in the comments, or send me an email at: hellocandicewalker@gmail.com, with your thoughts.
Key points - Are fashion choices shaped by how we live?
Lifestyle elements are increasingly being incorporated into fashion, as well as changes to our lifestyles are affecting our clothing choices and fashion consumption
The state of modern lives, marked by a lack of social connection and financial burdens, may be affecting purchases and shopping habits
Not only may we want to shop our pains away, but we also are looking to have more immersive encounters in our shopping experiences
With the absence of actual capital, young people have turned to their possessions as a way of signalling their status
Further readings
The Development of Market-Driven Identities in Young People
Explore in this research paper how macro-cultural influences, in the form of extrinsic values promoting physical attractiveness, wealth and material success, high achievements, social status and an enhanced self-image, exert an effect on the development of young people’s identities.
Learn how an interest in design is growing among Gen-Z and why this might be.
Discover how the (in)ability to pay for things is shaping how we live our lives, navigate spaces and the habits we form.
Blueberry milk nails and the illusion of choice under capitalism
From latte make-up to tomato girl summer, micro beauty trends have been dominating the internet for months – but what can they teach us about consumer culture and the way it shapes our identity?