My sister once asked, ‘How come you let a piece of clothing alter your personality and confidence?’. Well, I said to her that sometimes external things could affect what’s inside. But then I pondered a little longer and realized that there’s some sort of formula for that. So hear me out. For example, if you wear a pink, silky, laced dress, people already have an association of your clothing with cute things, therefore they would perceive you as cute. And then, when people perceive you or expect you to have some sort of personality, people base their actions towards you on their assumptions, and the actions we take as a reply, could in turn cause expectations to be met. This is what we call a self-fulfilling prophecy.

This is why trans people often dress as their desired gender because they want to show their identities by using attributes and accessories that people have been conditioned to associate with the other gender. For example, a biological male person wants to identify himself as a female. He then wore makeup and used skirts, because those are attributes of what society sees on a female human. Although a lot of people say that makeup and dresses aren’t what makes a female, female, trans women often use these attributes(makeup and dresses) to empower themself by showing society how they wanted to be treated(as a female).

So, attributes and clothing matter because how people associate you with a certain personality could affect how you interact with them, therefore affect how people perceive you, therefore affect your image as a person, and that image could deceive your brain as well, thinking that it is real, therefore affect your personality.

Disclaimer: This framework of thought is not backed by any research whatsoever. This way of thinking is adopted by the writer through a psychological perspective on a personal experience. Discussions are open to everyone! Let me know what you think, and share with me how you perceive this framework of thinking by hitting me up on Instagram: @ellenruthwang