Dopamine dressing: The latest fashion trend to take over TikTok explained and how to achieve it yourself

Dopamine dressing is creating huge buzz on TikTok, or FashionTok - with more people choosing to 'dress better feel better'.

Unlike other fashion trends which are proving popular on the social media platform, like quiet luxury or the mob wife aesthetic, there isn't just one certain way to follow this trend. That's because fashion is unique to everyone, and so the way to make people feel their happiest in their clothing will be different for every individual too.

That being said, there are still methods that we can all follow to dopamine dress effectively, no matter our specific tastes. Dopamine dressing will work for everyone though, making it a truly unique and hugely accessible trend for all. No wonder videos of the trend currently have 200million views on TikTok, and that number is growind daily.

But, what is dopamine dressing, and how can you adopt this approach to style yourself? Stylists at House of Colour have spoken about how easy it is to incorporate it into our wardrobes.

What is dopamine dressing?

Michaela Sargeant, House of Colour Stylist, says: "Dopamine is a type of neurotransmitter and hormone that acts on areas of the brain to give you feelings of pleasure, satisfaction and motivation.  It’s often called the happy hormone and is associated with overall feelings of well-being.  

"Dopamine dressing, therefore, is finding enjoyment in the things you choose to wear.  When you are intentional in considering what you put on your body in a conscious effort to increase your feelings of positivity and well-being.

"Have you ever put on a dress, a jumper, a pair of shoes, or even a well-fitting T-shirt, and had that 'yes' feeling? It’s that magic that happens when you immediately connect with a garment, when you know that thing is 'you' and you feel comfortable and confident in it? Right there is that rush of dopamine that produces happy feelings all round."

Dopamine dressing on TikTok

Here are some of the best videos on the platform of TikTokers showing off their version of dopamine dressing.

How can you follow the dopamine dressing trend?

The 'yes' feeling Sargeant describes "doesn’t just come out of nowhere", she says. There are reasons for the connection and pleasure you feel when you wear certain things, and they are almost always to do with how much that garment, shoe or accessory reflects the authentic you - and that's largely down to two things; colour and style.

She adds: "Finding what reflects the authentic you is not just guesswork - the right knowledge about what colours and style suit you is a fundamental starting point so that you can be equipped to get happy about everything you place on your body and invest money in," she adds.

So, how do you know what colours and style to choose? Sargeant offers her advice below.

Colour

You might hear people say that “a bold colour” elevates their mood.  But to really maximise on this, it needs to be the right bold colour, not just any random one.  If you’re going to wear bold colours, the best way to produce feelings of well-being from them is to make sure that they are your colours, which means they need to serve you the best they possibly can.  

You might have heard of the seasonal colour palettes Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter. Each season a version of every colour pretty much and wearing the colour palette that enhances your skin undertone is the way to make you feel your best. When you get it right, wearing colours that you know suit you will ensure that feeling of pleasure is sky high.  

Style

Having the right style of clothing can make or break a happy mood, which is in turn rooted back to levels of overall satisfaction and motivation.

Have you ever owned a piece of clothing that 'just didn’t feel right'?  You might not have known the reasons why, and maybe you even liked the garment but when you put it on there was just something that didn’t click?  Maybe you’ve got items in your wardrobe that are just sitting there, not fulfilling their potential, for no other reason other than you’ve just never reached for them. 

These clothes might be lovely, but if they don’t connect with your authentic self, reflect your personality or how you want to be perceived by the world you’re showing up to every day, they need to be in someone else’s wardrobe.

Then there will be your go-to’s, your staples, your reliable and trustworthy friends.  These are the items that make you feel more confident, make you walk with a swing in your step and show up to the world.  The chances are there will be a common theme in these clothes.  

But sometimes with the busy world we live in, with all its distractions, we can lose focus and start to feel a bit lost with knowing what to go for. Fashion trends are great but sometimes they won’t match what our authentic style actually is.  We need to dress the bodies we have and celebrate all the different shapes, structures, curves and characters we have as individuals and to serve the different roles we have in our lives.