How a Sexy Dress Can Boost Your Confidence

Lacking a little self-confidence? Feel like you need a little va-va-voom to get your mojo back? No problems. We’ve got a simple solution that will have you feeling like a million dollars in no time.

It might sound a little silly (and perhaps more than a little frivolous) that something so small as a dress can make such a huge impact on how we feel about ourselves, but the truth is that what we wear (and how we wear it) can not only affect our confidence, but our other emotions too.

Here’s how a sexy dress can boost your confidence in no time:

Clothing = emotions = confidence

Think about it: you’re at home bumming around after a hard day at work or school. You’re wearing sweat pants that probably should have been thrown out in 2003 and an old t-shirt that has a suspicious stain on the front. You’re just putting a bag of popcorn in the microwave when the doorbell rings.

You look down at what you’re wearing and suddenly realize that not only do you look crap (sorry, doll, but it’s the truth) that you feel crap too and that the last thing you want to is see anyone, even if it’s just your elderly mail man.

Now, whether you dressed like a piglet because you were in a bad mood or you were in a bad mood because you dressed like a piglet is up for debate, but at the end of the day the reality is that what you wear directly impacts how you feel.

How a little black dress can do wonders for your confidence

Let’s try another scenario. You order a little black dress online, thinking that it will be a good ‘just in case’ outfit to keep on hand. When it arrives, you slip it on and are chuffed to realize that it fits perfectly. It hugs your curves, flatters you in all the right places and makes you look incredible.

You slip on a pair of heels to complete the look and then playfully roll your hair up into a messy bun. You’re prancing around in front of your mirror when the doorbell rings. You look down at your outfit and grin. It doesn’t matter who the heck is at the door – you’re going to rock this shiz!

See the difference? By making an effort with your appearance, your confidence skyrockets. But by bumming around in old, worn out and unflattering clothing you’re doing nothing for your esteem or confidence.

Now there’s going to be some beautiful people that think this is a little superficial. That a dress shouldn’t be able to impact our self-confidence like this. So to them, I present the scientific-evidence-researchy-smart-stuff.

Scientific-evidence-researchy-smart-stuff to prove it

Point number one: in 2008 a report was published in Qualitative Research in Psychology that revealed that simply thinking about a particular item of clothing (for instance your incredible little black dress) can give you a confidence boost.

Try it out. Think about your favorite piece of clothing. The one that really flatters you and that you feel beautiful in. Imagine yourself wearing it, twirling around the room looking amazing. How do you feel? My guess is pretty darn good.

Another study has shown that not only do we use clothing to boost our moods, and in turn our confidence levels, but we also use clothing to mask our emotions. We do this by putting on bright, happy clothing that gives the impression that we’re in a good mood even if we’re not. These helps ease social anxiety (and the pressure to have a permagrin) while allowing us to be comfortable in our mood.

In addition to this, it is believed that we have an emotional attachment to our clothing – both negative and positive. It can be a point of pride that we own beautiful, flattering clothing and it can be a point of distress that we feel like we have nothing to wear.

Oh, and a study published in the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology showed that individuals took on the persona of the clothing they wore. For instance, individuals who wore white coats (believed to belong to doctors) performed better on tests than individuals who were wearing street clothes or individuals that believed the coats belonging to artists.

Yup, not only can your clothing make you feel better about yourself, it can make you smarter too.

Which is why, given the choice, why would you wear anything that makes you feel bad about yourself? We are here on earth to feel as good as we can. So choosing clothing that makes you feel good shouldn’t be something you feel guilty about it – it should be something you take in your stride, like eating well and exercising often to invest in your health and wellbeing.