By Gabrielle Kennedy / 17-06-2010

At least in academic circles, the concept of beauty and fashion is never taken seriously. “Not at all,” says Nancy Etcoff, a psychologist at Harvard University, and author of Survival of the Prettiest: The Science of Beauty “It’s seen as mundane, a seemingly trivial activity that is easy to brush away. Fashion changes all the time and there a misconception that to be serious is to be permanent.”

In so-called “serious circles” the mind is valued over the body and reason over emotion, but fashion is about all of it.  “And that proves that the initial distinctions are false,” says Etcoff whose work focuses on eradicating the marginalized box constraining beauty and fashion thereby launching both into the realm of common intellectual thought.  

The hurdle Etcoff faces is that there is little to no academic tradition or research, and consequently no social science perspective on the impact beauty and fashion have on the human mind and consciousness.

“But beauty isn’t a billion dollar industry for nothing,” Etcoff argues. “It obviously appeals to something deep inside human nature.”

Understanding more about what fashion appeals to and then how that drives human behaviour informs Etcoff’s current research and is the basis of her next book about the psychology of adornments and fashion.  “It is about how clothing helps to create an identity and should be understood as an extension of phenotype,” she says.

People have been dressing up for thousands of years and some of the earliest archeological artifacts discovered were made for bodily adornment.  “We are the dressed and designed ape,” Etcoff says.  “Fashion is about social status and the way we telegraph that.  It factors into sexual selection, but what complicates the discussion is that how we choose to exaggerate and disguise our bodies changes with time.”

That may explain why science and fashion have remained strangers.  But people are always dressed – at least in public.  “Clothing is half of what people are looking at when they watch you,” Etcoff says. “People are judging you and their moods and desires change depending on what they see.”

In a study she recently completed, Etcoff proves that different aesthetic looks like glamorous, edgy, sexy or natural directly connect to how people judge others in terms of likeability, competence and trustworthiness.  “The same face with a different aesthetic completely changes another person’s perception,” she says.

An aesthetic or what in fashion might be called a code is a way to recognize others, it is a sophisticated form of communication.   “It’s fascinating because we do not care if not everybody gets our code – it’s only meant for a certain group and exists so we can spot one another. It is a way of saying, ‘I am of this social group or profession or culture. It is a signal and the game is about working out who recognizes your signal.’”

In the past fashion as a communication tool was more simple because it was more strictly demarcated.  Today, we are more broadly dispersed than ever meaning fashion is more democratic.  Class no longer dictates what can and can’t be worn and fashion is more about tastes, personalities and interests.

Designers today have to appeal to two conflicting desires: to help people belong, but to also help them stand out.  “We are social beings and we have a flocking instinct,” says Etcoff, “but we want to be unique and distinctive.  If things become too homogenous, people get upset.”

What also defines fashion today is the more democratic employment of ideas.  “Or at least a give and take of ideas,” says Etcoff.  “Nobody likes to have an idea foisted on them, but sometimes an idea just connects to something fundamental within us.  That is why fashion designers should have an interest in psychology and social relations …. Good designers should immerse themselves in a set of ideas.”

On this topic Etcoff’s draws an analogy with sex. “These days it is not just people, but ideas who are having sex,” she says.  “Ideas meet and mutate and just as with man, there is a survival of the fittest.”

Through her books and talks Etcoff wants to incite people’s curiosity and to make them think more about fashion.  “I want to put a framework around fashion and legitimize it as a subject for others to think about too,” she says.  “Science and fashion can fuse and they should.  Fashion can be everything and that is why we love it.  It can be light-hearted or it can be serious.  It can be about ideas and emotions, the body and the mind; it can be whatever you want it to be.”

For more on Etcoff's Premsela - Dutch Platform for Design and Fashion lecture see here.

Add to favorites