Fashion is an energy that builds, transforms, deconstructs, travels and unites social groups, communities, events and status symbols. We make the mistake of stripping down the elusive nature of fashion to an enclosed bubble which we label as our comfort space, encompassing tried and tested looks that we’ve reworn multiple times and ‘can’t go wrong with’.
Psychology gives us insight into this journey. Take the ‘Five factor Personality Model’ penned by Costa and McCrae, and let’s deduce the first trait - Openness to Experience - a personality trait that measures how open someone is to trying new things. It measures intellect, creativity, imagination and willingness to breakthrough existing beliefs.
To experience fashion, we must be open to deconstructing our old beliefs surrounding it. Let's break safe choices and stylistic stagnation.
Openness and experience fuels progress.
So where can we start this ritual of experiencing, experimentation and play? It starts right in your bedroom.
Fashion experimentation in the bedroom is a type of play, an immersive activity that can be performed to get to know oneself better, like journaling. For a second, forget the rules you’ve been conditioned with while growing up. Today, print can be mixed with other prints, a pop of colour doesn’t have to be limited to just a pop, and tights - can indeed - be pants.
When guided by the instinctual responses of how a garment feels, rather than how it looks according to rules, we can uncover new parts of ourselves.
How are certain colours affecting your mood? What aspects of styling are you gravitating to the most? Is it colour, print, cuts or fabrics? Do you like lighter flowy fabrics or heavy weighted ones? Do you like playing around with embellishment and embroidery?
Let me interject here and tell you to forget everything you already think you like. This is a blank canvas and today, you’re not the minimalist you thought you were.
Center on how it makes you feel.
With no outside influences, no preconceived biases and no cultural meaning attached, you are submerging into the purest form of exploration. Picking clothing from the wardrobe solely based on your core emotions, mixing and matching via instinct and impulse and really tuning in to what you feel good in.
Center on how it makes you feel.
Turning this into a regular practice, even if just for five or ten minutes each day, can lead to a wardrobe that feels more aligned with our evolving selves, rather than an ode to current trends. This shift in focus lets fashion be both personal and playful—an art form as much as a daily ritual. Let’s immerse into the art of experiencing fashion, from our own bedrooms.
Share your experiences with us by tagging us with the hashtag #fashioninthebedroom #riysys so we can repost your journey and make this a shared experience. Let’s make new rituals share this experience together.
This piece really nails how fashion can be a way to explore who we are. Tying it to the psychological concept of Openness to Experience, really makes me think about how often we stay in our comfort zones—reaching for the same safe outfits and trends. But here, fashion becomes about breaking out of that and tuning into how things make us feel, not just how they look. Really cool concept!!
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This piece really nails how fashion can be a way to explore who we are. Tying it to the psychological concept of Openness to Experience, really makes me think about how often we stay in our comfort zones—reaching for the same safe outfits and trends. But here, fashion becomes about breaking out of that and tuning into how things make us feel, not just how they look. Really cool concept!!