MSc Psychology of Fashion at London College of Fashion is a British Psychological Society accredited course which enables students to apply psychological theories to solve real-world problems in the fashion industry. Madison Ridings, a recent graduate from the course, took up the under-researched area of athleisurewear to investigate its psychological and emotional impact on its consumers.
MSc Psychology of Fashion is one of the first of its kind market leading course which combines psychology and fashion to advance the research in consumer perception and behaviour in the fashion industry. That is one of reasons why Madison chose to apply for the course as it was a combination of her background in psychology and her passion and interest in fashion.
The impact of athleisurewear
Madison has always recognised the power of fashion to make you feel good about yourself. Clothing was more than just a functional tool for her, but a means of expression and empowerment. Building on this, she narrowed it down to athleisurewear to explore the impact it had on people's emotions.
“I was looking at the impact of gym clothing. It had nothing to do with going to the gym. Obviously, exercise can make you feel great, but I was focusing on the clothing that you put on without even working out can make you feel great as well because of its associations. People wear athleisurewear everyday but don't go to the gym every day and still feel great and active in it.”
Madison recognises the fact that athleisurewear is a luxury, but as it has been extremely under-researched, she had to limit her research to the consumers of athleisurewear. “I considered adding a socio-economic or cultural variable but it was not feasible at this stage. I think a whole study could be carried out using that as a variable, but because my study was the first of its kind in the sense that it's the first quantitative study to statistically test this, the first step was to look for an effect,” she explained.
The importance of psychology in fashion
One of the key insights from Madison’s research is the impact athleisurewear has on people’s healthy eating habits. She discovered that wearing athleisure not only promoted mental wellbeing but also encouraged people to adopt healthy eating intentions and she sees this as an opportunity for brands in the athleisurewear sector to promote the psychological benefits of their products.
“If you were to tell someone, just put on your favourite pair of leggings and top each day as soon as you get up in the morning and that has an effect on healthy eating intentions, I think companies would hugely benefit by implementing it. The outcomes of this research, in consumer education, health interventions, I think it's a small and easy adjustment that can have really profound benefits.”
Madison sees huge scope in expanding the research to non-consumers of athleisurewear to verify its psychological benefits. Athleisurewear is a space that she is passionate about and that is one of the reasons that made her research worthwhile, and that’s her advise for the current students in the course.
“Choose a topic that you enjoy, even if you think it's really niche, that will probably actually be a benefit. And definitely, enjoy the lectures. Listen to them. They're really interesting. I focused on the lectures because they were more valuable than reading, obviously the readings can supplement them, but I would listen to the lectures. It's really cool stuff that you're learning.”
You can checkout Madison's work at Fashion Business Schools’ Postgraduate exhibition.