WHY DO CERTAIN COLORS MAKE US FEEL DIFFERENT EMOTIONS?

It feels like an eternity since the last time the sun shone brightly in Barcelona. And let me be completely dramatic about it, as I’m from the Caribbean, where it’s summer all year round. I genuinely think it wouldn’t matter how long I’ve been living abroad—getting used to the seasons is hard work. However, don’t get me wrong, I do not hate it.

So, getting back to where I was, I haven’t seen the sun in a couple of days, and I’ve been reflecting on how it affects the way I choose to dress and how the way I dress on these gray days makes me feel. I also find myself looking around and appreciating how people dress on rainy days and wondering how they feel.

I’m not an all-black outfit type of girl—as you might have seen in the black & brown post. That doesn’t mean I don’t wear black, but dark colors are not typically my thing. However, I tend to wear them mostly on rainy days; it feels like the right choice. I can’t picture myself wearing pink in the middle of a storm, but why is that?

I care enough to look around, and certainly, as we all might know, colors represent different emotions and are deeply connected to how we feel when we wear them—not to mention many other aspects that I won’t get into, as this is a fashion-related article.

“Color is a powerful communication tool and can be used to signal action, influence mood, and even trigger physiological reactions. Certain colors have been associated with physiological changes.”

So, maybe, instead of choosing black when it’s a gray day, should we opt for a brighter color to cheer ourselves up, even though it feels completely unnatural? I’m not sure what the correct order of factors is. In reality, I don’t even know how I naturally act, since, at the end of the day, we function on autopilot.

However, if there’s one thing I can say, it’s that dressing is a tool directly linked to how we feel— on a rainy day or a sunny one. The emotional factor is always present in the decisions we make daily, whether consciously or unconsciously, including how we choose to dress.

So, how do the colors we wear make others perceive us?

By navigating the internet, I could clearly notice that there is much more to this matter than I thought. If you start with the impact of non-verbal communication and clothing on our social desires, we can be sure that, in addition to that, colors help us convey a message about what we want to express to others and how they perceive us, considering the way our brains interpret them.

In most cases, red is perceived as the color of strength and passion, an intense color that also demonstrates confidence and trust by the simple fact of wearing it. It can be interpreted that you are a confident and decisive person by the fact of wearing red, painting your lips red or wearing it by the simple fact of the strength that this color has naturally.

Blue, undoubtedly one of the most used colors and despite the variations, it will always be a discreet color. It can be associated with calmness, or serenity – this may be the reason why it is applied so much in work environments. In most cases it can be very professional and serious, without the strength that comes with black.

Last example, black. Evidently it is linked to elegance, power and authority. Going unnoticed if necessary but at the same time creating a big impact – again if necessary.

This happens with everything we can add to our outfits, it all comes down to what we want to convey by wearing it and the way it makes us feel to do so. Because fashion is just that, sensations and feelings.