Staysfit perfectly describes how mood dressing works for me. I do pick out my clothes the night before and sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. If I don't wear what I've picked out because my mood has changed, at least it's a starting point. Maybe I wear the pants but change the top from a fitted top and blazer to a loose blouse. Or I keep everything but wear flats instead of heels.

Sweet La Ped and Ginger, your moods are governed by your emotions

Jenn, you are astute. YES. Mood dressing is the antithesis of Uniform dressing. It runs on a continuum though so you can pick your position.

Angie, I know they are, but it's not (usually) as straightforward as saying I'm happy or I'm nervous or I'm grumpy. (If I chose my outfit at 6 AM, every outfit would say "I'm sleepy!") And wearing the right outfit also affects my emotions and usually makes me happier, in combination with whatever else is going on that day.

Very interesting discussion here. I chime in with many of these reflections on mood-dressing. Ginger's comment dots the i's in this discussion--emotions can be way less straight-forward than we might 'think' they are. The outside influences also play a significant role in how we are in tune with what we are feeling. Like listening to music, we can be so moved that we're not really sure how or why but just are. Practicing being open and present helps--the true wild card in our body awareness.

Nodding my head so much at these responses. I'm definitely a mood dresser, which makes it difficult to pack for travel - what if I'm feeling sunshiney but I only packed for rain?

I also think you can still be a uniform dresser but dress for moods. I can be in a suit 5 days straight, but you can tell how I'm feeling by the color, the pattern, the accessories. For example, yesterday was a kicking butt and taking names day - black pants, green silk top and matching blazer with patterned shoes and gold jewelry. Today I'd stay in bed if I could - navy blazer, pant, heels, pink knit blouse, simple earrings.

Staysfit described it well for me. I definitely follow my intuitions (in concert with the weather report.) Actually, one of the things that makes me grumpy is that the weather and my mood often conflict. I feel like wearing something light and airy but it is twenty below zero. So I put on something cozy and then feel simultaneously relieved to be warm and frustrated. I guess that means my emotional side and my practical side are often at odds.

But I also do what Fashintern describes. In other words, I dress for the mood or the feeling I want to have. That's one reason I adore bright colourful coats. Living in the kind of climate that I do (or did) I spend a lot of time in coats and a bright one on a grey day can really boost my happiness factor.

Colour is a big influencer of moods for me. It also lifts my mood to wear something that I adore because of the fit, quality, feeling of the fabrication, etc. And sometimes trying something new -- or a new silhouette -- or even just a new combination of older items -- amps up the happiness factor.

Interesting thread! I’m a bit of everything. I can definitely bolster the mood I want to be in by wearing a particular outfit.

I can definitely sink my mood by wearing the wrong clothes.

Sometimes I have analysis paralysis and have to change a few times to get it right (which makes me frustrated so irritated that I can’t get it right)

(I am sooooo busy at the moment, excuse my bevity).

YES to FashIntern, Suz and Ginger. You can absolutely pick an outfit based on how you WANT to feel. The flip side that Jane suggests is true too. An outfit can dampen your mood. Different sides of the same Mood Dressing coin. Ginger, I think the process can be quite an intuitive thing - which it might be for you and La Ped.

Greg, for example. UNIFORM DRESSER. His outfits are not affected by his moods or emotions - other things are, but not his outfits. My outfits are very affected - especially by colours.

I look at my schedule, weather for the upcoming week, and get everything set up ahead of time. Generally brights for regular client days, for approachability, and black for formal meetings. But, ive been thinking about my use of color for work, and realizing i use it to cheer myself up and feel "on." Maybe the colors make up for being inside all day!

Mood dresser? I don't think I fit the definition. I'm pretty much like Greg
But I do BUY based on emotion, and even my essentials (basic skinny jeans and blue sweaters) are chosen based on emotion, usually. This might be why I have a hard time with online shopping: It doesn't give you the immediate emotional feedback that brick-and-mortar shopping does.

Agree Smittie. I think I like to fall in love with my clothes when I buy them, and that may be why I do B&M shopping as well. I then keep a lot of "loyalty" to the clothes afterwards, as I said in Sisi's post on tracking. I don't fall out of love with them easily.
I fell out of love with 2 tunics and a pink top recently, but it was after 5,6 and 7 years and 36, 26 and 33 wears. CPW was well below what I aim for so I feel good about all of that.
Sterling, do you think you fall in love when you buy them? I feel like you seemed to suggest that with your bright pink wedding guest pants, and your black pants?

Yep, "intuitive dressing" sounds about right. I usually come up INTP in personality inventories -- intuitive but also analytical. While I can do a lot of things just by "getting the feel for it" I absolutely want to find the inner logic, the rules of the game, for whatever it is I'm doing. When it comes to my wardrobe, I would love to have a better grasp of the internal factors that make a certain outfit feel right on a certain day and not on another. I guess this is where tracking outfits becomes useful. I'm always looking for patterns.

( Funny La Ped-sorry Sterling- we are the exact opposite on all! I am ESFJ- but I love your posts! I think I use my Feel bit when I purchase the items.)

La Ped, Greg is an INTP. I’m an ENFJ.

Thank you for asking JenniNZ!

The truth is that after having lost weight earlier this year, I have yet to fully rebuild my wardrobe. My weight continues to fluctuate about five pounds up and down. Those five pounds cause havoc. I continue to shop and buy, but I keep next to nothing.

I am living with a very small wardrobe. It is utilitarian, but does not strike joy in my soul as Angie describes. It is funny that you should ask because one of the reasons I started this post is because my wardrobe merely meets my needs. It does not spark joy. Yet I can remember a time when it did (as recently as 2017). I would like to get back to that time and I am trying to figure out just what is missing.

ISFJ or so they tell me.

This is SUCH a fascinating discussion. Thank you for starting it, Sterling!

Staysfit's description of different moods and how they might influence what she wears makes a lot of sense in terms of helping me understand what "mood dressing" is/might look like. But I do not relate to it at all! In fact, I am not aware of even having the kinds of moods that she describes -- feeling happy and giddy one day vs. serious and powerful vs. chill and relaxed -- much less feeling moved to reflect them in how I dress. I am afraid this makes me sound affectless. I do have emotions, I promise! They just...work differently than this.

I think Jenn is on to something with the idea of uniform dressing being the opposite of mood dressing. I am very much a uniform dresser. (Although my style/aesthetic is not minimalist, and I like outfit variety -- so I have a moderately large wardrobe despite liking my uniforms.) In fact, sometimes when I try something different, I feel a little unmoored! Like I am thinking, ok, I like this outfit but it is not part of a larger pattern. Hm. THAT is an interesting thought.

I do know that I am very strongly influenced by seasonal cycles, beyond just dressing for weather conditions. An outfit that feels right to me on a 65 F day in May will be different from an outfit that feels right on a 65 F day in September. Maybe that is my version of mood dressing.

I also wonder whether lifestyle makes a difference. Implicit in a lot of this discussion is the idea of having what you wear somehow help get you through the day, or counteract your mood (fake it till you make it) etc. I spend the VAST majority of my time at home. So maybe I have less need for that.

Sterling I truly hope that you work out what's been missing and that you get your wardrobe joy back. Please keep us updated!

Angie, you’re close, but I was not talking about how you want to feel/the mood you want to be in, or trying to change your mood by dressing a certain way, as Janet mentioned earlier. I meant the effect you want to have on others/what you want to project. Suntiger’s colors to be approachable for clients and serious darks to be a bigwig at a meeting are perfect examples. Those aren’t moods she happens to be in—those are clear relationship objectives. Moods come and go and we have a limited amount of control over them and, as I said earlier, we don’t even necessarily recognize the mood we are in or its effects on us. Recognizing your mood and realizing you need to go the extra mile sartorially in order to send the right message despite your mood is not the same thing as trying to “fake it til you make it” or convince yourself to be in a different mood.

Sarah, yes! I absolutely agree that most of the time, most of us don’t recognize our own mood. That means we don’t see a clear link between it and the things we “feel like” wearing, but the link is still there.

SarahD8 -- Thank you.

My dear Sterling. Give it time. You're trying to rebuild your wardrobe after weight loss, which takes a minute. You haven't cycled through a year yet - if memory serves me correctly. You will get there. Keep on addressing the right questions as you edit and add, but don't get too analytical about it. That in itself can rob you of wardrobe and style joy.

I used to be very much a mood dresser, in that I would lie in bed in the morning and figure out what I was in the mood to wear, before I even got out of bed. Some of that was maritime weather (cf ElizabethP); some damp mornings you just want warm and fuzzy. Still, you can imagine how well that worked for this non morning person.

I used to follow an organize your life website called FlyLady. One of her biggest lessons was to get your clothes out the night before. I resisted for the longest time, but once I finally came around there was no looking back. Mornings are less hectic, outfits are better planned.

I will still sub in if mood or weather changes drastically. But I try to plan for the expected weather and activities. And I get to dream up potential combinations and then tweak them. Planning ahead gives me more scope for creativity because I think about my inspirations and ways to carry them out.

I think of myself as a mood dresser, but actually it is more a matter of wanting variety and what I want to portray. It is more a matter of looking powerful and in control for a classroom or approachable, or even helpless. If I am taking a plane trip, I want to look like I belong in first or business class and it can result in my being placed there. This is all after considering weather and activities.

Sarah D8- this is very intriguing isn’t it?? Because I feel exactly how Staysfit describes! Sometimes light and giddy, sometimes rather serious, other times just so darn tired. Also I have days when I feel creative and days when I just need navy and charcoal...but conversely an outfit can help to change a moood, like getting dressed up to go out to dinner.

Hmm. I seem to have misunderstood your meaning, Fashintern. I guess it's Janet whose view sounds closer to mine. But I also get what you are saying about dressing in the hope of influencing others' moods or perceptions. I don't do that as often, but do it occasionally, especially for special events.

Sterling, I was nodding with Angie. It hasn't been very long since the weight loss...it takes time to get the wardrobe back into form after a big life change. PLUS, it's autumn and as I recall, this season can sometimes lead to a feeling of doldrums for you as you long to buy warm sweaters but know you should keep away from the layered look in your current climate. Listening to others go on about their fab autumn wardrobes can't be easy!

Sterling, I’m nodding with you in those few pounds on / off can make a real difference in a weight loss context. I’m hearing what Angie says, in that it takes time to rebuild a joyful / appropriate wardrobe that fits!

Lots of great responses here. I love StaysFit's response!

I consider myself a mood dresser. I have in fact found that when I am feeling out of sorts, if I can find just the right thing to wear, my mood will improve significantly. Likewise, if I put something on that I don't really like for that day, I will feel out of sorts until I can change.

For me, mood dressing usually starts with the silhouette. Do I feel like I want something loose fitting, or something tight fitting? Something cozy and soft, or something crisp and tailored? Some of this has to do with the weather, of course, but some of it is emotions.

Sometimes, instead of being drawn to a particular silhouette, I'm really feeling a particular color that day. Before I open my dresser, for instance, I might already be really looking forward to wearing a particular color, or I'll know I want something light colored, or something sparkly.

If I'm choosing my footwear (after I have my outfit on), I'll scan my shoes and mentally imagine what each one will look like and feel like once on with this outfit. I might mentally imagine choice 1 as being too girly, or choice 2 as being too boring, etc. I will finally settle on the right one.

My outfit today is instructive for how mood dressing works for me. I wore a white tee, black moto, dark blue jeans, and red patent booties. I wore the red patent booties because they are made of vinyl and it looked like rain. I wore them only for that practical reason, and my heart was not in it. I felt very low on energy and would have preferred to blend in. I would have liked to have worn darker footwear instead of the bright red booties.

I haven’t read half the responses, but will ask anyway:

Sterling, your question was what emotional dressing is. You’re getting lots of examples of how people think they do it. Are you getting closer to a definition?

Thank you for asking, Fashintern.

As always happens when I am ruminating, the collective wisdom and kindness of the YLF Forum reaches out to instruct and soothe me. I feel like I have a much better understanding of emotional dressing now. I believe I am an emotional dresser after all. Thanks Staysfit for the excellent examples!

I am also giving myself time to rebuild my wardrobe. Rome was not built in a day.

Interesting thread Sterling!! Lots of good examples and I pondered my own approach which I struggle to put into words.

I can basically wear what I like to work - at times I have to wear practical covered shoes or boots - but mostly I can wear anything. My climate is pretty easy to dress for - not too hot, not too cold. Yet one day I will wear jeans and sneakers and the next heels and a skirt. It is often looking at an item I love but haven't worn for a while - or pair of shoes - sometimes it is whom I am meeting -or not meeting.

I usually decide in the shower what I will wear - unless I have an early start or an important meeting.

Sterling - I hope you get back to a place where you love your clothes again - I am sure you will.

What SarahD8 wrote best articulates how I approach dressing...now. I DID approach dressing differently when I needed to be 'armoured up' for a workday. I am also sensitive to seasonal changes and changing quality and quantity of natural light.

Although I enjoy a certain amount of colour in my wardrobe and have enjoyed both colourful wardrobes and neutral heavy wardrobes, it is the FEEL of clothes - texture and fit - that influence my mood. I cruise the racks with my HANDS as much as with my EYES. I can tell if a velvet has silk content and if a 'wool' woven contains cashmere. Although I recognize tailored button downs are more figure flattering than knits, I like the body hugging effect of a sweater or t-shirt.

Interesting thread...