With the winter weather well and truly set in, I'm finding myself increasingly reliant on a wardrobe of staples in black, grey and navy. It's pretty drab, to be frank, and while it might be a literal reflection of the surrounding climate, the habitual routine of layering on muted shade after muted shade has started to feel a little bit tedious.
Enter Dopamine Dressing. A theory that has been floating around the fashion industry recently which claims that wearing bright colours can actually boost your mood. I'm not sure whether it is because of the rainbow hues we've seen on the runway or the paint-box brights favoured by the street style set, but I've found myself contemplating the validity of this theory of late. And while it might sound a little too much like Carrie Bradshaw, I couldn’t help but wonder: Can wearing brighter colours actually make me happier?
According to Karen Haller, colour psychologist and author of The Little Book of Colour, the answer is yes.
As Haller explains, "Colour is a great way to lift our spirits and boost our moods in an instant. Our confidence can be boosted when we wear colours that we love and feel good in.” In terms of the science behind it, Haller notes that wearing bright colour “creates physiological changes within us. In psychological terms, it delivers an emotional experience.”
Elaborating on this, Haller continued, “We instinctively feel and behave differently around colours because of how we take the colour in through our eyes and through to the part of our brain where our emotions reside.” This is why wearing yellow might make you feel cheerful, whereas wearing black can have a different effect.
So, does Dopamine Dressing actually work? I decided to put the theory into practice, tracking down the brightest hues I could find and testing each for its mood-boosting ability.
