London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Thursday, Oct 09, 2025

The Science-and Styles-Behind Dopamine Dressing in 2022

The Science-and Styles-Behind Dopamine Dressing in 2022

History moves fashion (research Dior’s New Look). So why does everyone suddenly want us to bare all?

A few months ago I joined countless avowed lifelong New Yorkers and moved to Los Angeles, whereupon I discovered that I hated all my clothes. Mostly these were the things that had carried me through the past two years: a kingdom of oversize khakis and men’s button-down shirts, wide-leg jeans, candy-colored athleisure sets, a muted rainbow of cashmere crewnecks. I had newer things, too, the stuff I had bought during lockdown while planning for a more hopeful future: party dresses and statement tops intended for cocktails and dinners out, all puffed shoulders and flouncy skirts, generous silhouettes intended to ease me in to a less anxious life.

As I considered how to be in this new place, during this new time—which was less like living entirely free of fear than like cruising along with fear riding shotgun, like a motorcycle sidecar or an annoying mosquito—I realized that floating under tiers of tulle or shapeless cotton shirts suddenly felt all wrong.


What I really wanted was something fitted and invigorating, an outfit that would make me sit up straight and make others take notice. I wanted to look intentional, like a Helmut Newton photograph. Really, I wanted a suit. Not a suit suit, but what Yves Saint Laurent famously dubbed Le Smoking, something a little slicked back, with a lot of sex appeal. The anti-sweatpant.

This was about more than just solving a sartorial snarl, and it wasn’t just me. Plenty of designers seem to agree that it’s time to tighten up. Karl Lagerfeld may have shocked people when he put Chanel-branded underwear as outerwear on the runway for spring 1993, but nearly 30 years later Virginie Viard showed the briefest of briefs with the maison’s two-tone classic jackets, and hardly anyone blinked an eye.


At Miu Miu, large swathes of torso were bared, bookended by preppy knits that ended at the fifth rib and pleated skirts that began well below the hipbone. At Saint Laurent, keyhole necklines gaped and plunged toward the navel. Two of Anthony Vaccarello’s predecessors there, the ones who resuscitated the label’s decadent loucheness, were not outdone: Tom Ford showed bra tops and sequins, lamé and leather and chain, and Hedi Slimane continued to build his name at Céline by clinging to the figure—tight. Even Hermès got in on the action, putting its expertise in leather goods in the service of bralettes, miniskirts, and crop tops.

The younger designer set is even less inhibited. Nensi Dojaka won the LVMH prize this year on the strength of her stringy gowns and more-flesh-than-mesh bodysuits. The Parisian provocateur Ludovic de Saint Sernin flaunted thongs, sculptural minidresses, and taut bodices made of tiny stretched strands of leather. “We were in such a digital world for a year and a half that it was really critical for me to reconnect with physicality,” he told one reviewer, “in a way that you could almost grab it.” (Some reportedly came close, at his show at the Institut du Monde Arabe, when the dancer Steven Fast strutted out in an almost imperceptible pair of briefs.)


Pop culture too has served up plentiful ­bodice-rippers, both traditional and contemporary, from the Netflix smash Bridgerton to the amorous teens on Gossip Girl and its Spanish analog Elite. Esteemed actors like Benedict Cumberbatch and Bradley Cooper embraced the full possibilities of the body-as-instrument in their recent projects The Power of the Dog and Nightmare Alley. On smaller screens, too, the dominant style for Gen Z on Instagram and TikTok remains the thirst trap.

That said, not everyone is into the grin-and-bare-it-all. “I’m not a huge fan of this trend,” says celebrity uberstylist Kate Young. “I don’t have any tips! Except maybe don’t.”


For those of us looking to shake things up, the novelty can be the point. “What we wear allows us to present different identities,” says behavioral psychologist Carolyn Mair, author of The Psychology of Fashion. “Given that we’ve been so restricted for the past 21 months, it’s not surprising we’re seizing the opportunity to dress in a way that attracts attention.”

“After our long hibernation, the time feels right to celebrate what brought us through: our bodies.”


Perhaps that’s the key to comprehending the current desire for sensuality. After our long hibernation and our staggered reemergence, the time feels right to celebrate what brought us through: our bodies.

If, after World War II, women found in the rounded shoulders and full skirts of Dior’s New Look the armor to face a new world, a skin-tight celebration of the human form might be precisely what our wardrobes need now.


Mair lumps this kind of sex-positive style into a category she calls “dopamine dressing,” explaining that the neurotransmitter has a placebo effect, and “motivates us toward a good result.” In other words, more pleasure, less pain.

Similarly, she adds, “expecting something good to happen as a result of how we dress makes us more open to opportunities.” This phenomenon is directly linked to an increase in confidence, which leads to better posture and more expressive mannerisms, all of which make you appear more attractive. Unfortunately for me, becoming more attractive to the late Helmut Newton is impossible, but I’ve invested in some seriously trim suiting nonetheless.

Ultimately, it’s the fake-it-till-you-make-it mindset that’s note-perfect for our unsteady times, and the real takeaway is as simple as a sheer top or perfectly tailored tuxedo: Dress for the life you want, waste no time, and never forget to rejoice in the body that’s underneath the clothes. You get only one.

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
France: Less Than a Month After His Appointment, the New French Prime Minister Resigns
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán stated that Hungary will not adopt the euro because the European Union is falling apart.
Sarah Mullally Becomes First Woman Appointed Archbishop of Canterbury
Mayor in western Germany in intensive care after stabbing
Australian government pays Deloitte nearly half a million dollars for a report built on fabricated quotes, fake citations, and AI-generated nonsense.
US Prosecutors Gained Legal Approval to Hack Telegram Servers
Macron Faces Intensifying Pressure to Resign or Trigger New Elections Amid France’s Political Turmoil
Standard Chartered Names Roberto Hoornweg as Sole Head of Corporate & Investment Banking
UK Asylum Housing Firm Faces Backlash Over £187 Million Profits and Poor Living Conditions
UK Police Crack Major Gang in Smuggling of up to 40,000 Stolen Phones to China
BYD’s UK Sales Soar Nearly Nine-Fold, Making Britain Its Biggest Market Outside China
Trump Proposes Farm Bailout from Tariff Revenues Amid Backlash from Other Industries
FIFA Accuses Malaysia of Forging Citizenship Documents, Suspends Seven Footballers
Latvia to Bar Tourist and Occasional Buses to Russia and Belarus Until 2026
A Dollar Coin Featuring Trump’s Portrait Expected to Be Issued Next Year
Australia Orders X to Block Murder Videos, Citing Online Safety and Public Exposure
Three Scientists Awarded Nobel Prize in Medicine for Discovery of Immune Self-Tolerance Mechanism
OpenAI and AMD Forge Landmark AI-Chip Alliance with Equity Option
Munich Airport Reopens After Second Drone Shutdown
France Names New Government Amid Political Crisis
Trump Stands Firm in Shutdown Showdown and Declares War on Drug Cartels — Turning Crisis into Opportunity
Surge of U.S. Billionaires Transforms London’s Peninsula Apartments into Ultra-Luxury Stronghold
Pro Europe and Anti-War Babiš Poised to Return to Power After Czech Parliamentary Vote
Jeff Bezos Calls AI Surge a ‘Good’ Bubble, Urges Focus on Lasting Innovation
Japan’s Ruling Party Chooses Sanae Takaichi, Clearing Path to First Female Prime Minister
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs Sentenced to Fifty Months in Prison Following Prostitution Conviction
Taylor Swift’s ‘Showgirl’ Launch Extends Billion-Dollar Empire
Trump Administration Launches “TrumpRx” Plan to Enable Direct Drug Sales at Deep Discounts
Trump Announces Intention to Impose 100 Percent Tariff on Foreign-Made Films
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Singapore and Hong Kong Vie to Dominate Asia’s Rising Gold Trade
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Manhattan Sees Surge in Office-to-Housing Conversions, Highest Since 2008
Switzerland and U.S. Issue Joint Assurance Against Currency Manipulation
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Thomas Jacob Sanford Named as Suspect in Deadly Michigan Church Shooting and Arson
Russian Research Vessel 'Yantar' Tracked Mapping Europe’s Subsea Cables, Raising Security Alarms
New York Man Arrested After On-Air Confession to 2017 Parents’ Murders
U.S. Defense Chief Orders Sudden Summit of Hundreds of Generals and Admirals
Global Cruise Industry Posts Dramatic Comeback with 34.6 Million Passengers in 2024
Trump Claims FBI Planted 274 Agents at Capitol Riot, Citing Unverified Reports
India: Internet Suspended in Bareilly Amid Communal Clashes Between Muslims and Hindus
Supreme Court Extends Freeze on Nearly $5 Billion in U.S. Foreign Aid at Trump’s Request
Archaeologists Recover Statues and Temples from 2,000-Year-Old Sunken City off Alexandria
China Deploys 2,000 Workers to Spain to Build Major EV Battery Factory, Raising European Dependence
Speed Takes Over: How Drive-Through Coffee Chains Are Rewriting U.S. Coffee Culture
U.S. Demands Brussels Scrutinize Digital Rules to Prevent Bias Against American Tech
Ringo Starr Champions Enduring Beatles Legacy While Debuting Las Vegas Art Show
Private Equity’s Fundraising Surge Triggers Concern of European Market Shake-Out
Colombian President Petro Vows to Mobilize Volunteers for Gaza and Joins List of Fighters
×