我们的衣着选择暴露的个人信息比我们预想的要多。实际上，我们可以把衣着看做我们向他人展示自己的一种语言。
每件衣服是一个单词，而我们把这些单词连成一句话，告诉别人我们是谁。我们拥有的“单词”越多，我们能造出的“句子”也就越多，由此，我们传递出去的信息也会更准确。
A good example of how we use clothing in order to portray an image of ourselves is the way we dress for job interviews. A business-like appearance is often thought to represent success and employers often believe that a professionally dressed person indicates motivation, skill and a hard-working attitude. An interesting study in 1970 found that people perceived nurses as less caring when they dressed casually. this goes to show that how we dress gives off important information about our personality, education, background and credibility.
我们通过着装来树立良好形象的最佳例证就是我们去参加求职面试时的着装选择。一般都认为，商务类型的着装代表成功，雇主们也认为身着职业装的人传递出积极、技能和勤奋的工作态度。1970年的一个有意思的研究发现，看到护士身着休闲服装，人们通常会认为这个护士不那么会照顾人。这也说明，我们如何着装会传递出有关我们的个性、教育、背景和可信度等方面的重要信息。
In addition having an impression on others, our clothing can have an effect on ourselves too. The multi-sensory aspects, social factors and symbolic associations of clothing can affect our individual emotions.
我们的着装除了能给别人留下特定的印象以外，对我们自己也有影响。着装的多方位感知、社会因素以及标志性关联都会影响我们每个人的情绪。
The idea that what you wear affects your mentality is called'enclothed cognition.' A study of participants wearing white lab coats found that the participants performed better in tests when they believed that they were wearing a doctor's coat than when they were told they were wearing an artist's coat. These results suggest that we take on the perceived characteristics of the clothing that we wear, so much so, that it influences the way we think and behave.
认为衣着会影响一个人心理状态的理论叫做“着装认知”。一项研究发现，身着白大褂的被试者认为自己穿的是实验室大褂时的表现优于其认为自己穿的是艺术家大褂时的表现。这些结果表明，我们会把衣装的一些特质加在自己身上，由此，这些衣服也就影响了我们的思维和行为方式。
In fashion, this is seen when designers create a persona for their collections and women aspire to wear the brand to take on the characteristics of the muse. If you associate Prada's collection with an intelligent, powerful woman, you are more likely to act that way, when you wear the clothing yourself.
在时尚界，设计师通常会为他们设计的服装设定个性特点，而选择该品牌衣装的女性则会把这些个性特点也加在自己身上。如果你把Prada系列的衣服与智慧、有权势的女性联系在一起，那么当你穿上Prada的衣服以后，就很可能会表现成为一个智慧有权势的女性。
