When it comes to fashion, choice is good. In honour of the latest edition of Pitti Uomo in Florence in June this year, which drew to a close recently, we want to explore the joy that dressing well can bring a man, and how many aspects of life that touches.
While that might seem frivolous, we’d argue that dressing well is the foundation of feeling good. Having an array of accessories to match your mood can help you feel like you’ve really nailed your outfit, and can truly make a difference to how your day goes. Explore how style makes you feel, the benefits of a collection, and how it all works in the real world.
Dressing for Dopamine
All of our lives have stresses - be they work, finances, tight deadlines or an endless array of other pressures. With all that you have going on, it can be tempting to put yourself last in line for any discretionary spending. However, if your wardrobe feels a bit tired and you find yourself circling around the same old choices, we don’t think there’s anything wrong with adding some pieces that you want. In fact, we’d argue that giving yourself fashion choices can make you even more capable of meeting life head on. Looking at your shelves and finding some imaginative options waiting for you allows you room to feel like yourself, whatever the day demands of you.
A little patch of colour here, a bit of pattern there…it’s all about having those little finishing touches to hand, to lift your ensemble that bit above the ordinary. We all know someone that just lights up a room, that seems to make people happy to see them; dopamine dressing can even help you to be that person. Expressing yourself through fashion can even be a true mood enhancer; in fact, science tells us why.
A (Brief) Science Lesson
Let’s talk about brain chemistry - briefly. Our brain gives out instructions for our bodies to run, both electrically and chemically. These chemicals are known as neurotransmitters (neuro = brain). They play an important role in our lives, prompting our little ape psyches into action. Dopamine is one such chemical. In popular parlance, you can see it as the chemical of satisfaction; in pharmacological terms, it might be more accurately put as “conferring motivational salience”. This is that feeling of achievement or accomplishment, of doing something good. Whether that’s playing a game, eating a snack you love, doing some DIY or a little exercise. Ultimately, dopamine drives us towards the things that we want - an important evolutionary mechanism that plays a different, related role today.
“Wearing something that gives you pleasure”, or perhaps “nailing your outfit”, are things that fall firmly into this category.
Building in Variety
While there are people who have yet to discover the true merits of a fine accessory, there are many repeat customers in our address book. This not only means they have more to choose from, it also means they have a tool for every occasion. Having a collection means that you can dress how you feel, matching your accessories to your mood. We often talk of matching your cravat or pocket square to your outfit, but reversing that - using your accessories to dictate the rest of your outfit - can give you a more creative and carefree approach. You’re sort of working backwards from your favourite ingredient, incorporating what you want to wear as a point of principle. Having a range to draw from makes this a fun, exploratory process, giving your imagination some space to stretch.
Dress the Part
Dress the part, be the part - it’s a clichė because it’s true! A choice of outfit can give you the confidence you need to really “sell” an outfit and make it your own. This is twofold. Dressing the part can often mean embodying it, with a more confident dress style leading you to make more confident decisions and have that little edge of self-assurance. It can also help you to give out more of what you feel inside, helping you meet challenges and feel better about your own abilities. It sounds silly, and in some ways it is, but truly dressing like you mean it can do wonders for your capabilities.
While choosing the right outfit can help you feel more confident and professional, ultimately it’s about what you feel inside. So while people may see you a certain way, or not, you’re not really in control of that. The real meaning is for you to feel like you’re ready for what you need or want to do, regardless of external factors. We’d encourage you to be brave with your outfit choices; it’s always better to ask for forgiveness than for permission, and please don’t succumb to timidity. Choose your direction, really mean it, stick to it, and your confidence is likely to show.
Retail Therapy - More Important Than You Think
If you’re like us, we’re sure there are times when you have indulged in a little retail therapy. While we’re not suggesting it’s the solution to all problems, treating yourself to something you want once everything you need has been taken care of can really help one to feel sane. Clothes, and especially accessories are a great way to go in this regard, providing a (relatively) cheap habit that can be kept up, without putting you out on the street!
University studies suggest some positive outcomes of indulging yourself from time to time:
An increase in “happy hormones”
Brain chemicals, such as endorphins and the aforementioned dopamine, are released, making you feel satisfaction and excitement.
An improved sense of autonomy
This is hard to quantify, but it boils down to a sense of confidence and control. Feelings of helplessness can cause great distress, and this is a small way of regaining the wheel.
A boost in imagination
In finding, selecting and following through on a purchase, you’ve demonstrated creativity and vision, attributes that are valued in children but somewhat beaten out of us as adult responsibilities weigh.
We don’t want to overplay this, but it seems that science backs up lived experience here; shopping makes you feel good, and browsing, matching, auditioning and contrasting all play a part in the process.
Express Yourself
Ultimately, style is shorthand for self-expression. Your clothes say so much about you, so why not take charge of that? For example, our range of patterns suggests everything from Japanese gardens to Madagascan rainforest, and from the country club to the nightclub. This is no accident and we don’t expect our customers to pick one and wear that forever more. Whatever your mood or occasion, we want to give our customers something to work with. All fashion choices have an element of this, even in the most formal situations.
Keep choices at hand to dress how you feel, and you’ll feel ready for anything. A silk accessory may seem like a fanciful purchase, but in reality it’s a fashion Swiss army knife, useful for all kinds of situations that you didn’t expect to find yourself in.
Shop with Cravat Club
If there is one thing we’ve learned from speaking to our customers over the years, it’s that they appreciate when they see something different on the shelf. Building in variety to your wardrobe is a fashion hack that we thoroughly recommend, and we want to provide you with all you need to do that.
With one eye on utility, and the other very firmly on style, we hope you’ll find the perfect choices in our catalogue of grade-A silk accessories.
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