Y2K is SoLast year.
“Dopamine dressing” is the hottest fashion trend ruling TikTok, where people are executing over-the-top, vibrant outfits in an effort to add joy to their wardrobe.
While #dopaminedressing tops 25.6 million views on the app, Google searches for the colorful craze began to soar this month — and A-listers have even graced the red carpet in neon hues.
Dawnn Karen, a fashion psychologist, believes dopamine dressing is the key for happiness through clothing.
“Typically, we’re dressing for external factors — the weather, other people, special events. There was a shift in attitudes during the pandemic. Since no one was around to tell you what to wear, you gave yourself permission to find styles that make you happy,” Karen told the “Today” show. “This isn’t medicine by any means, but I’ve seen people who are normally very shy put on a colorful outfit and become fierce, fabulous and free.”
In fact, a person’s “whole mood shifts when they wear clothes that represent who they really are,” Karen added.
TikTokers have flocked to the platform to show off their spirited renditions of dopamine dressing — which could also be considered maximalism — to include contrasting patterns, striking colors and a bit of personal flare.
User @cybr.grl showed her current style — which is bright, saturated and fun — as a contrast to her past, gloomier fashion choices in a clip amassing nearly 70,000 views.
Thalia Castro-Vega (@polycrom3 on Twitter) shows her followers how she dresses in a variety of colors. In one clip, which garnered 48,000 views, she shows off a pair of lilac bellbottoms with reflective circles hanging off the hems. She paired them with a puffy-sleeved blouse in darker shades of purple. The monochromatic look was completed by a matching, sparkling lavender bag.
Another content creator known as @killer_closet_ attributes dopamine dressing to healing her “inner child,” saying in a clip that it took until her 30s to figure it out. She compares an old photo of her as a child to a current one of her wearing a neon green, tiger-striped frock and a neon pink, tiger striped bag.
While this is the latest trend gaining its footing online, adding personality — as whacky as it may be — could go a long way. Gone may be the days of fitting into the ever-changing trends — marinated makeup, Barbiecore, coastal grandmother, oh my! — and standing out will actually be the latest fad.
Analyst and fashion writer Mandy Lee claims the trend cycle is changing so quickly that being yourself — vivid hues and all — will become the forefront of the fashion world.
“My running theory is that we’ll reach a point where there are so many micro trends they will be impossible to identify, thus imploding the trend cycle as we know it and personal style will reign stronger than ever,” she predicted in a clip with over 652,000 views, adding that there’s “a lot more freedom of expression.”
Cue: dopamine dressing.
Colors have actually been proven to impact our mood, so it’s no surprise bright and playful clothing can have the same effect.
A 2012 study conducted by the University of Hertfordshire confirmed that dressing a certain way — especially when the wearer feels most comfortable — has a mood-enhancing psychological effect.
“This finding shows that clothing doesn’t just influence others, it reflects and influences the wearer’s mood too,” Dr. Karen Pine, an author of the study, said in a release. “Many of the women in this study felt they could alter their mood by changing what they wore. This demonstrates the psychological power of clothing and how the right choices could influence a person’s happiness.”
In the current state of the world, the sudden burst of colored clothing online could be attributed to people’s desire for more joy integrated into their life — albeit through their closets.
Shawn Grain Carter, associate professor at Fashion Institute of Technology, stated that being locked down by the coronavirus pandemic has made even the most dedicated black outfit-lovers to put on their darkest clothes.
“Wearing color is more of an escape from what’s going on,” Carter previously told The Post. “You’ve got a war, economic instability, new waves of COVID madness — people want to feel good, and so you put on a pink dress or a beautiful yellow set. These are happy colors that make people feel mentally stable and emotionally comfortable.”
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