The Psychology of Clothes

Recently, I’ve been occupied with shipping out LiveCode 7 branded T-Shirts to purchasers of our special 7 launch bundle. Visualising all you guys and gals unpacking the parcel and wearing the T-Shirt got me thinking about what people wear, why, and how it affects their day to day activities. 

While we were designing the T-Shirt, I discovered that some members of staff have strong views about what kind of shirt they will wear, and what they won’t. We do have the full spectrum here in the team, from staff members its an effort to persuade to wear at least something without holes in, to those who would not be seen dead in any kind of T-Shirt and don’t own a pair of jeans. We have a  “Smart Casual” official policy for our staff, which I think is a kind of extension of our company culture, and reinforces our desire for a workplace where people are creative, comfortable, and valued. Having staff turn up wearing scruffy jeans and baggy tshirts leads to a general air of disreputableness and disrespect, but insisting on a shirt and tie every day would make most of our development team very uncomfortable.

However, I myself and many of you, our users, work from home. Does it matter what I wear? Or what you wear? I think it does. Theoretically, I could sit here at my computer wearing a dressing-gown and slippers, and none of you would be any the wiser (aside from the risk of a sudden Skype with video).  In practice, I dress if not as formally as I would for the office, at least respectably. I don’t feel I would do as good a job if I did not dress for it. It would be a very interesting experiment to run! So interesting that a little googling finds that studies have in fact been run on this question. Enclothed Cognition is the term being invented for the concept. Apparently wearing a doctors lab coat while performing intelligence tests results in better performance – but only if you are told it’s a doctors lab coat, not if you think it’s an artists jacket.

Which brings me on to my thoughts on confidence. Dressing in clothes you like gives you more confidence, which you then are able to project onto your work and your interactions with others. Confidence is attractive therefore you look and work better in clothes you like. So, if you like our LiveCode 7 T-Shirt, you’re going to look great wearing it! Care to send us a photo? 

What do you think? Does it matter what you wear? If you work at home, do you dress up for work?