https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/dress-dreams-and-desire-what-does-it-mean-when-you-wear-what-you-wear Style Advice for Fashion Lovers en-US Sun, 12 Apr 2026 15:03:02 +0000 http://bbpress.org/?v=1.0.2 q https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/search.php https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/dress-dreams-and-desire-what-does-it-mean-when-you-wear-what-you-wear#post-2399176 Tue, 18 Nov 2025 16:53:03 +0000 Lisa 2399176@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>How interesting, thanks for sharing! </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/dress-dreams-and-desire-what-does-it-mean-when-you-wear-what-you-wear#post-2398826 Thu, 13 Nov 2025 05:39:33 +0000 Jenni NZ 2398826@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>Wow, it looks amazing. I love psychology. I wish I could be beamed up to New York to see it! Thank you for sharing.<br /> Ket has some interesting thoughts above. I know that people do often notice what I wear in an individual situation when just the two people but I feel more like Irina when I am noodling about the neighbourhood, that no-one notices or cares.<br /> What wonderful garment examples in the article! </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/dress-dreams-and-desire-what-does-it-mean-when-you-wear-what-you-wear#post-2398811 Thu, 13 Nov 2025 01:23:05 +0000 Jaime 2398811@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>Sorry I missed this exhibition and am eyeballing the planned publication. My first question - since the premise is that we are unconsciously motivated to wear what we do, do the contributors suggest the designers are similarly exploring themes unconsciously? </p> <p>I know this might seem a strange juxtaposition but Michelle Obama just published a book about the meaning of her fashion choices. Could it be that the psychology of style is finally getting some attention and respect?<br />Thanks for bringing this up! </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/dress-dreams-and-desire-what-does-it-mean-when-you-wear-what-you-wear#post-2398807 Thu, 13 Nov 2025 00:33:19 +0000 Carla 2398807@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>LOL! &nbsp;When I stood in the closet this morning, my motivation was the same as&nbsp;<b>Roberta's</b>! &nbsp;</p> <p> <div><br /></div><div>When I went out for a walk with DH, I was wearing all maroon: puffer, boots, beret and bag - with denim jeans. &nbsp;We passed a woman who was wearing a black puffer, boots, beret and bag - with denim jeans, BUT she had wisps of bright blue hair curling out from her beret. &nbsp;Just ever so slightly subversive! &nbsp;She looked fab!</div></p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/dress-dreams-and-desire-what-does-it-mean-when-you-wear-what-you-wear#post-2398801 Wed, 12 Nov 2025 23:20:39 +0000 Irina 2398801@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>Interesting!&nbsp;<div>Makes me wish I could see the exhibit.&nbsp;</div><div>I’m certainly influenced by my environment but also like to express myself in my clothing. I’m pretty oblivious to the opinions of others about my appearance as I’m so certain that nobody is looking at me :)</div> </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/dress-dreams-and-desire-what-does-it-mean-when-you-wear-what-you-wear#post-2398794 Wed, 12 Nov 2025 21:11:55 +0000 Ket 2398794@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p><b>Lisa</b>, what a fascinating topic. I have wrestled with this quite a bit myself. I've been told by a few girlfriends that they initially found me intimidating. A stylist I worked with also told me that just by virtue of event and culture, wearing anything more than sweats or jeans to a baseball game or playground was likely too put me at odds with other moms and make me potentially read as haughty, "extra", etc. </p> <p>And I will say, I have found other mothers difficult to befriend. So I then question <i>is </i>it because of my style?? At times, I&nbsp;find myself holding back on jewelry, makeup, etc. that I would normally wear so I don't scare them away as being unapproachable.</p> <p>On the flip side, I am also bemused by natural choices. I find myself loving and wearing softer things &nbsp;that could read as girlish-- Swiss dot fabric, pom-poms and tassels, sheer chiffon, and such. Being 5'11 (1.8m) and curvy as an Italian road, I do not know if girlish is an extension of who I am, or an odd contrast to my height and curves that reads weird.&nbsp;<div><br /></div><div>Sorry for lengthy rambles. Fascinating topic for certain!<br /><div><br /></div></div> </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/dress-dreams-and-desire-what-does-it-mean-when-you-wear-what-you-wear#post-2398793 Wed, 12 Nov 2025 21:05:28 +0000 Ket 2398793@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p><b>Roberta</b>, have to pop in here and say wow!! Your outfit looks uber chic!!!&nbsp;</p> <p> </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/dress-dreams-and-desire-what-does-it-mean-when-you-wear-what-you-wear#post-2398785 Wed, 12 Nov 2025 17:06:06 +0000 Roberta 2398785@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>Oh, I wish I could see this exhibit. FIT is always interesting. </p> <p>My motivation this morning was to be WARM. But I recognize that I also wanted my outfit to look "interesting", conceal/highlight certain features, and make use of something that wasn't getting much wear (the pants). </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/dress-dreams-and-desire-what-does-it-mean-when-you-wear-what-you-wear#post-2398766 Wed, 12 Nov 2025 14:25:26 +0000 Dee 2398766@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>Interesting topic, I always find it quite fascinating to pyschoanalize why we wear what we do.</p> <p>My outfits do seem somewhat free will to me, but only to the extent of what I can actually source for myself. I also feel my personality is definitely embedded into what I choose to wear and how I style myself. However, I can also be influenced by social and environmental norms. Being mostly introverted, I dont like to call too much attention to myself. I'm also very pragmatic, precise, and cautious, and I think my wardrobe choices reflect these aspects about me.</p> <p>ETA: As KET mentioned below, how people actually perceive me by what I wear, might be quite different to how I preceive myself. </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/dress-dreams-and-desire-what-does-it-mean-when-you-wear-what-you-wear#post-2398765 Wed, 12 Nov 2025 14:22:25 +0000 NancyW 2398765@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>This exhibit looks so interesting! I seldom get to NYC, but when there I always plan a visit to the Museum at FIT. Always something thought provoking in its galleries. Also, it is free, it is an interesting neighborhood for people watching and the students bustling about bring so much good energy. If you go in the spring you might be able to see student projects in fashion, illustration, commercial design and other majors. Will be reading this, thank you. </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/dress-dreams-and-desire-what-does-it-mean-when-you-wear-what-you-wear#post-2398764 Wed, 12 Nov 2025 13:17:29 +0000 gryffin 2398764@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>Lisa - This is really interesting.&nbsp; I do agree when fashion/dress is selected cognizantly and it mirrors who we are and how we see ourselves it is deeply personal and resonant.&nbsp; And, as we've all discussed many times, people will make assumptions about us based on how we present ourselves.&nbsp; We have a choice about whether we want to ignore this or control the dialog by dressing authentically and deliberately.&nbsp; I do think of dress as masquerade. Not to give a false illusion but to empower, to enhance, to communicate, to protect and reinforce self.&nbsp;&nbsp; </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/dress-dreams-and-desire-what-does-it-mean-when-you-wear-what-you-wear#post-2398752 Wed, 12 Nov 2025 07:14:44 +0000 UmmLila (Lisa) 2398752@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>I wish I could go to this, but I don’t think I’ll make it there before it closes.&nbsp;<a rel="nofollow" href="https://www.fitnyc.edu/museum/exhibitions/dress-dreams-desire/index.php">https://www.fitnyc.edu/museum/...../index.php</a></p> <p>“When you picked out an outfit this morning, did it feel like free will? Was it a series of deliberate choices that made it desirable to venture out into the world wearing said garment? Or was your decision a response to deeper subconscious forces? What if the choices we make about clothes are not our own conscious choices to make?</p> <p>That’s the premise of a new exhibition in New York. Dress, Dreams and Desire: Fashion and Psychoanalysis, at the Fashion Institute of Technology, that makes the case that clothes are the “deep surface”, the “changeable, renewable second skin”, that outside the merely practical act as a facade for far more than we know.</p> <p>As Dr Valerie Steele, the curator known as “the Freud of fashion”, puts it, fashion “communicates our unconscious desires and anxieties, with none of us fully aware of the messages we send.” From her perspective, “far from being superficial, fashion exposes people’s desires and anxieties like a psychosomatic rash.” (From the Guardian)</p>