Dopamine dressing is feel-good fashion and I’m here for it!
In the first week of 2022 I had my second round of chemo. Whilst Pac-Man was racing around eating up the confused and misplaced cells in my body, my thoughts wandered into an altogether more uplifting place.
As I mentioned in my last blog, I filled December with sequins and sparkles. It felt so good to wear sequins, gold and silver vintage finds throughout the month.
It got me thinking about how making small changes, like the clothes you wear, can really help to lift your mood. Perhaps we all have the power to ‘dress ourselves happy’.
I absolutely loved seeing the pictures everyone shared; a heartfelt thank you again to everyone who got on board. It lifted my mood every day to see so many smiling, glittery pictures.
You may have noticed, I’m a BIG fan of Christmas and all things festive. I love selecting gifts and creating those special moments. And this year felt even more important to do so.
The magic of Christmas isn’t just for children! I always feel filled with positivity and happiness in the build up to Christmas, and adding sparkles, glitter, gold and silver hints to my everyday outfits helped to elevate that feeling even more. Now that I’ve sourced quite a collection of vintage sparkles, I plan to do it every year.
I’m living proof that wearing something you love everyday not only makes you feel great, it can actually make you happier. After all, sequins aren’t just for Christmas - they can be dressed down for the school run with different textures and trainers.
Choosing an outfit that makes you feel ‘you’ is a powerful way to reinforce yourself. One of my best friends Tiffany, who was absolutely on board with sequins every day, said it definitely made her up her game and she is hands down the most glamorous woman I know!
The start of a new year can be a great time to edit your wardrobe to lift your mood. Marie Kondo of The Marie Kondo Method suggests keeping only belongings that spark joy. I know from experience as a stylist that a great deal of us have bulging wardrobes, and I definitely think mine needs editing and organising in the next few weeks. I love doing this - it’s a lengthy process but I always manage to create some great new outfits from things I haven’t worn for ages.
There is definitely a time and a place for different types of clothing - I always reach for my embellished Uzma Bozai jumper when I need to feel comfy and relaxed. My India & Rar Laines of London slippers added that little bit of glitter and glamour while keeping me comfy when I was post-chemo. I also became a fan of knitted sequin headbands.
Since wearing sparkles everyday, I’ve been digging around the internet to see what I can find about how dressing up can make us happy.
I found a great article on the BBC by Ben Jacobs who states that ‘everyday exuberance’ is the surprise trend for 2021. Well it certainly was for me, in the latter part! This could have been a very sad time for me, but I actually had so much fun and felt really empowered when I wore a sparkly outfit for my first round of chemo.
There is even a movement known as ‘Dopamine Dressing’, which was crowned the biggest street style trend at Copenhagen SS22 fashion week. The theory is that emerging from lockdown, people want to wear bolder, brighter clothes. So let this be my next challenge: to wear more colour. It can only be a good thing to choose bright and bold, and it will be an interesting experiment to see if colour can lift my mood the way sparkles do.
I love the brands Baum Und Pferdgarten, who very much highlighted this bolder and brighter colour trend in SS22 fashion week. I’ve got my eye on an amazing, bold Essentiel Antwerp jumper on Depop, so maybe this should be my starting point! At India & Rar we have some beautiful bright pieces of knitwear coming in very soon, so this should be a relatively easy challenge and I’ll have a smile on my face well into summer.
So who’s with me…?
For inspiration, I’ll post some Instagram stories of my favourite bright and bold SS22 fashion looks, plus some inspiration for styling ideas.
Let’s fill 2022 with colour and get into ‘Dopamine Dressing’ - we deserve more joy and happiness.
Love Amber xx