Full disclosure: I am garbage on Mondays. Like whole sobbing-to-my-pillow-about-how-I-can-even-on-Reese’s-breakups kind of garbage. Everything that made me happy over the weekend ends up decimating me on Monday mornings so hard that I’ve been known to actually stand in front of my closet on Mondays at 6: 30am and rage at my clothes for not being Monday motivating enough.
For YEARS I lived by the theory that any black clothes, smelly food thanks make Thursday cuddled together equal fashion week inspired. If Rory Gilmore went to work looking like that I’d believe she totally had it together. It all started when I was interviewing people for an article I was freelancing about color psychology and how stores like Target manipulate our moods when we shop.
The article wasn’t anything groundbreaking: red makes you buy more stuff, it turns out. But one of the interviewees mentioned “dopamine dressing” and I about fell out of my very millennial chic- striped Ikea chair.
Meet Dr.
Sarah Chen, color psychologist and researcher extraordinaire whose specialty is studying environments and how they impact our mood. She explained to me that when we wear something that boosts our mood, our brain actually releases dopamine. Like legit science.
Journal of magazine filler articles kind of science. I asked her straight up if there was any chance it could cure my Monday blues and she basically told me, try it for three weeks. Wear something that makes you embarrassingly happy on Monday morning.
If it doesn’t work, she’ll buy me coffee and analyze me for funzies. Week one was a hot mess. I dug up this vintage blazer I scored at Goodwill like three months ago but was too scared to wear because HOLY SHIT IT’S PINK.
Picture Barbie joined a lesbian gang in the 80s, then stumbled across a giant sweater cozy of shoulder pads and that my friends is where we begin. I paired it with some jeans and my well-loved white converse because if you’re gonna embrace crazy, you might as well go all out. Needless to say, walking into my ad agency that morning felt like wearing a flashing billboard around my neck but let me tell you something crazy happened… I didn’t hate it?!
Sure I looked LIKE A HOT MESS but I also felt kinda bad-ass? Boss daughter Marcus from My Crazy Life gave me The Look but bless him he said nothing, probably because he’s still unsure if I’m rebellious enough to quit via impersonative dance or not. By lunch time that Monday I’d received more compliments than normal and actually volunteered to take on this logo project I’d been avoiding for weeks.
THANK YOU, PINK BLAZER FOR MAKING ME FEEL LIKE SOMEONE THAT VOLUNTEERS FOR STUFF INSTEAD OF HIDES BEHIND HER COMPUTER SCREEN ALL DAY PRAYING NO ONE SPEAKS TO HER. Week two: Yellow pants. And not let’s-accidentally-match-at-Lululemon yellow, I’m talking WTF IS UP WITH YOUR LEGS yellow.
The brightest shade of yellow that actually hurts my eyes a little when I look down at them. Thoose are wide leg ones so they make this awful swooshing sound when I walk but honestly, it’s magical. You cannot feel bad about yourself when your pants are making cheerful swooshing noises with every step you take, my friends.
It’s impossible. I paired them with my navy.target sweater on clearance to knock it down a notch but honestly, I probably should’ve paired them with a potato sack because y’all those pants spoke for themselves. Not only did my coworker Jenny send me a group text from across the office that said “WHY ARE YOU SMILING AT YOUR COMPUTER IT’S MONDAY THIS IS WEIRD NO ONE DOES THAT”, but I found myself smiling at excel spreadsheets on Monday.
THE YELLOW PANTS HAD COMPLETELY BROKEN MY BRAIN. By week three I was fully embracing my inner mad-color-science-lady. I wore this vintage dress I found at an estate sale that’s covered in fruit.
Watermelon, pineapple, some questionable mango-type fruit holds, who knows. It’s like if Carmen Miranda and a fruit basket had a baby and that baby ended up dressing me. This entire ensemble was only $12 and now I look like the cool aunt that travels internationally and has strong opinions about tequila.
Low and behold our junior account manager stops me in the hall to see where I got it because it was THAT loud. Reluctantly I told her “Oh this old thing? Dead people used to own it in Beaverton.” NEWSFLASH: I killed that presentation I had been stressing about for literal MONTHS.
Probably coincidence but I felt like whoever wore fruit prints on Anthropologie got this, so I’m rolling with it. I texted Dr. Chen that evening: “.are my clothes dropping MDMA into my bloodstream and I’m loving it.” Cut to eight months later and I’m 110% hooked.
I have it down to a science – well, my science which is essentially random things I enjoyed and threw on Pinterest so I’m doing them again. Rule number one: BRIGHT. AS.
FUCK. when I say bright, I don’t mean oh that’s a nice shade of blue kind of bright. I mean IS THAT LIGHTING OR ARE YOU WEARING LED’S? kind of bright. I have this green sweater that makes me look like a radioactive lesbian sloth and I live for it.
Clothes impact how our brain processes how we FEEL wayyyy before your morning coffee hits. Rule number two: unusual textures. Whether it’s a cardigan that feels like a million little balloons are rubbing together when you squeeze it, or a dress with sandpaper sleeves (hello fall, I see you jelly sleeves), your clothes should excite you under where you can’t see them too.
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Touch is a sense too, people. Let’s stimulate ALL of them. Rule number three: nostalgic throwbacks that make you feel like a cool grandma that does crazy shit.
I picked up these earrings at Goodwill that are little cocktail glasses filled with faux pearls. They remind me of going to breakfast with my parents as a kid and stealing mimosas from the drink station because IDK WHY BUT I THOUGHT THEY WERE GRAPFRUIT JUICE. But they make me feel fierce and dangerous like that carefree girl who used to sneak drinks before school.
Rule number four: at least one WTF factor. Your grandma’s practical clothes aren’t gonna release dopamine, folks. Try on that skirt with pockets in the stupidest places that make your butt look lumpy when you use them.
That dress covered in fish, seriously, who does that?! Something that defies logic and makes you smile when you put it on. Lastly: make it a conversation starter.
Again, part of this whole thing is the instantaneous mood boost of getting compliments on your outfit. I reached mile high with my coworkers when I wore these vintage earrings shaped like rotary phones. Pair of teenagers asked me what they were.
To them, they were ‘old call phones’. Children these days… Look, wearing banana yellow track jacket will not solve world hunger. If you despise your job there is no outfit on this planet that’s gonna magically fix that (*unless you can legally aka criminally dry clean dumpsters, then yes please do that) but what it can do is help you power through the Monday feels in STYLE.
The crazy science behind this all stems from this phenomenon called “enclothed cognition”. Basically if you dress how you want to feel, your brain starts to believe it! I’m no scientist but in my very amateur experiment, it worked about 80% of the time.
The other 20%? Pair of jeans covered in pink flamingos doesn’t promise you won’t have back to back zoom meetings with your worst client. It’s only gotten progressively more out of hand as time has gone on.
Last Monday I threw on a vintage bowling shirt (with Steve embroidered on it? Oh I am definitely not a Steve.) paired with a metallic pleated skirt and combat boots. Visuals were fire.
Our new intern handed me my coffee that morning with wide eyes and full mouth, clearly afraid she was going to catch me snap if she made a sound. The coolest side effect of all this? My wardrobe during the week has gotten way better.
I used to hoard all my “good clothes” for some made-up occasion that would never come. So my favorite items just sat in my closet mocking me week after week. Now that crochet top I bought to some New Year’s Eve party two years ago?
Getting busted out for beers with friends after work. Those handmade heels I scored on sale at Nordstrom Rack? Total weeknight dinner runs kind of deal.
Life’s too short, folks. And Mondays will always be there. I’ve even had coworkers, friends, and strangersonline keep me inspired by doing their own Monday madness.
One of my favorite comments was from this tax attorney (yup, that’s a thing) that wore tie covered in little dinosaurs to the office to meet with clients. He closed his largest deal that day….who knew dinosaurs wearing clothes could be that persuasive? ! Another friend, a kindergarten teacher started wearing a different crazy color every Monday for about a month and said not only did her mood improve, but her students responded better to her.
Guess what kiddos?
Dopamine is contagious. I get that it’s not for everyone.
My mom is CONSTANTLY texting me “ THIS IS FOR WORK? ?” when I post outfits on IG and honestly I don’t blame her. What kind of workplace allows this?? And trust, I have had my fair share of soul eyerolls from the bougie bloggers out there who think smiling during your day because you like what you’re wearing is sooo less than wearing random clothes and pretending you don’t see COLOR.
But what I’ve discovered through this almost year long adventure of intentionally wearing clothes that boost my mood? We vastly underestimate the power outfits have on our day. Not tie yourself into a shitty corporate personality you hate kind of power.
But the ACTUAL feeling of looking in your mirror and thinking F— YEAH THAT’S EXACTLY WHO I WANT TO FEEL TODAY kind of power. So next time you’re out and about and see someone rocking bright pink pants with a sweater that reads SO ULTRA on them, say hi – could be me wearing the happiest clothes imaginable because I have a meeting and I’m about to own it. Bye!
