The Psychology of Fashion

The Psychology of Everything

by Carolyn Mair

What do our clothes say about us?

How do the clothes we wear affect our moods and emotions?

How does the fashion industry encourage us to aspire to look in a certain way?

The Psychology of Fashion offers an insightful introduction to the exciting and dynamic world of fashion in relation to human behaviour, from how clothing can affect our cognitive processes to the way retail environments manipulate consumer behaviour. The book explores how fashion design can impact healthy body image, how psychology can inform a more sustainable perspective on the production and disposal of clothing, and why we develop certain shopping behaviours.

With fashion imagery ever present in the streets, press and media, The Psychology of Fashion shows how fashion and psychology can make a positive difference to our lives.

Genres: Fashion, Nonfiction, Psychology, Audiobook

206 pages, Paperback

Published December 30, 2024

Reviews

[Nelson Zagalo · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book suffers from a common problem, the title misleads those who approach it. In fact, the book deals with the Psychology of Fashion Culture. In other words, there is a lot of discussion about the influence of fashion on people, how they allegedly suffer the effects of fashion, how they live with and deal with it, from issues of self-esteem to obesity, and the industry's responsibilities towards all these social problems. However, nothing is said about how fashion seduces, how fashion induces, how fashion works the imaginary, from colours to cuts, what is the real importance of fashion for the human being, in psychological terms? Nothing.

On the other hand, it is an introductory short book, albeit academic, but of a master's thesis level. It's all surface because each topic would need its own book.

[Oscar · Rating 1 out of 5]

Nothing but an incoherent mess of basic psychology and statistics, failing to break any ground and significantly lacking in cohesive to the point where even the conclusion at the end of the book is a mess. The only redeeming factor is the short "what's next" section in the conclusion which looks at directions for the future developments of technology and consumerism.

At least the book is short.

[Matias Makilla · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very interesting book which discusses themes including fashion consumption, the influence that fashion have on body image and what we consider "beautiful, and fast vs. sustainable fashion.

With fashion being one of the world's largest industries, I think this book is important reading material for anyone who wear clothes.

[Katie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is good for anyone new to sustainable fashion as it breaks down the terms and logistics of the idea. Otherwise a little bit boring of a book which is why I couldn’t give it the full 5 stars.

[Shaimaa · Rating 3 out of 5]

عادي
معظمه إحصائيات وكلام معروف

[Bianca · Rating 3 out of 5]

Honestly it’s more of a Cliff notes intro than anything in depth. Also cites problematic writers 😭😭😭

[Yona · Rating 1 out of 5]

Borderline unreadable.

For such a short volume, you would think the author would've included only the most pertinent and interesting details. However, well over half of the book was background information to support the scant, scattered crumbs that were actually about the psychology of fashion, allowing too little space to give any depth. A better title would've been "The Social and Ethical Concerns of Fashion Culture."

In addition to being both shallow and unexciting, the individual sentences had absolutely no flow. Almost no transition sentences, poor paragraph organization, and no regard for readability. (There's a maddening example that reads "he reasons that the reason...") This is a common problem in academic writing, and it does this book no favors. I also wondered if some chapters had been originally published separately in an academic journal because there was a lot of repetition between chapters.

Overall: the only reasons I was able to finish at all were because 1) the book was very short and 2) I'm trying to hit a reading goal. No substance to be had, but at least it made another tally mark on my ledger.

[Becky Carr · Rating 1 out of 5]

I debated between a 1 star and 2 and honestly I’m not sure that 2 is the right call. This book was soooooo dull! And also so surface level- makes you want to scream out thank you captain obvious- if you care about fashion and watch any kind of online video content about it, like some slow fashion channels- don’t buy this and waste your time- you already know more than it’s going to tell you. It also has this annoying habit of bringing things up just to not explore them but instead say that will be explored in a later chapter or at the end of chapters they are all summing up what the chapter is about and it got to a point in the audiobook where it felt like I wasn’t listening to an actual book with detailed exploration but summaries of what supposedly would be coming up or just did come up (although the summary had about as much depth as the supposed detailed covering of the topic in the chapter) I literally had to make myself keep going, largely just bc I was commuted enough and needed the number for my good reads challenge

[Ruth McG · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've really wanted to read something about the psychology of fashion or a while, and so this book title and blurb seemed it was exactly what I was looking for. I feel I got some of what I wanted to know more about or listen to out of it but I felt it didn't hit the spot a lot of times, it seemed it was saying quite simple things but just repeating them in a slightly different complicated way throughout. I wanted it to be more questioning and emotional and deep but it was more just really obvious brick wall facts said in confusing ways.

Academic writing is kinda lame cus the writer isn't expressing anything themselves or being vulnerable they are just worried about not being wrong about anything and writing correctly. Boring AF.

[Thais Gobbi · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was a great intro book to the psychology of fashion. In this case the term ‘fashion’ is used more broadly overarching the beauty industry.

I found myself taking a lot of notes and being super interested by findings that were shown on how fashion & clothes is so intertwined with our decisions, thought processes, etc. however, I would have liked more depth. (She did mention throughout the book that this book would not not have the extreme depth needed on topics and referred you to other recommended reads).

This is a book anyone could read (not just a fashions student) and truly shows how much more compelled fashion is.. not just an industry of where people “dress up”

[Summer✨ · Rating 3 out of 5]

I picked up this book because I had a course in college that I enjoyed about this topic. Unfortunately the book wasn’t quite what I expected. Although it was interesting to dive into mental health of designers and other topics, it felt very separated in topics. It either discussed psychology or fashion. It never covered why you pick an outfit, what that outfit means to others, and the deep down judgement we all have towards “prettier” people that my course covered. It’s a quick read but I felt that it missed a few areas that would have been extremely interesting.

[Karolina Kordacova · Rating 2 out of 5]

So dull and disappointing. I got through the first quarter and I can't bring myself to keep going. It doesn't teach me anything new. It's just a summary of a lot of facts, most of them obvious to a person who pays attention to dressing and fashion for a long time. Reading it reminds me of when I was writing final thesis of my postgrad: gluing together paragraphs about different studies and then writing a unifying conclusion. Basically, nothing you want to read in a published educative book. And as other noted, the title promises something different than what you actually get.

[Louisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found this to be a really useful and insightful overview of how psychological theory and research can be, and has been, used to better understand and support issues related to fashion. Professor Mair makes many interesting and poignant points which - to name a few- address representation within the fashion industry and it’s ties with body image and well-being, and the changing habits of consumers and how this affects sustainability. Well worth a read.

[Alysiana · Rating 1 out of 5]

Surface level knowledge of fashion and its history “analyzed” with surface level psychology—all paired with horrible editing and writing style that distracted me so much from the purpose of the book that I had to stop to annotate the mistakes myself.

Felt like I was reading an undergraduate’s research paper.

[Anna Mosca · Rating 3 out of 5]

Although some parts were interesting it reads, and it is read in the audio version, as a long thesis research therefore quite pedantic at times. Not bad but not exciting as it could have been in my opinion.

[Patrizia Gallo · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 stars

Not really what I wanted to read.
Interesting, that's true, but the focus I was expecting on how personality and psychology con tell about our choices in fashion and clothing is non existent in this texts.

[Audrey Treon · Rating 4 out of 5]

I genuinely learned so much from this book. At times it was a little fact heavy and hard to get through but I loved the analyses, so interesting! If you have the slightest interest in fashion, I recommend you read this book

[Cate C. · Rating 3 out of 5]

A decent introductory survey of what academic studies exist on the subject but was hoping for it to expand some of the ideas.

[Naomi · Rating 3 out of 5]

A compilation of facts, statistics, and resources about the fashion industry. A starter book on learning more about the industry.

[Elizabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good introduction.

[Jake · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bit boring but I got through it. Took me a bit to read. Was an interesting read at times but also dragged a bit. 4/10 If i saw it in the street I'd say hello.

[Teresa Ballantyne · Rating 2 out of 5]

Poor title for content of book

This is more the psychology of body image than the psychology of fashion. Really nothing new is included. It was neither interesting nor helpful.

[Orlene · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm unsure how to rate this book, it was interesting but not the entire time? There was a few parts that I found to be informative but the rest seemed obvious? Idk. Maybe good but not great?

[Davina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting survey of the what we know about fashion and the human mind. Worth reading.

[Luiza · Rating 4 out of 5]

A useful book for everyone, especially for those who are interested in fashion industry, consumers behavior and applied psychology.

[Eline · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interessant, maar ik had wel het gevoel alsof ik heel veel al wist.
Ik heb wel wat nieuwe dingen geleerd hoor🤗🎀

[Michelle Smith · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 / 5 - not exactly what I was looking for but some bits found interesting

[John Conway · Rating 3 out of 5]

cool wee book

[Mollie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I agree with the review that was like "this should be called 'psychology and the fashion industry.'" It has little to nothing to do with style, which is fine, but again... bad marketing perhaps