1. “I Have Nothing to Wear!”
Taylor Speer, Amanda Steiner
Canisius College
Faculty Advisors: Dr. Harvey Pines and Dr. Judith Larkin
Canisius College Department of Psychology
Abstract
Why does a woman look at a closet full of clothing and still feel like she has
nothing to wear? Is it because she doesn't want to be seen wearing the same
thing on multiple occasions? In our study, we tried to determine when it is
acceptable to wear the same outfit twice. We hypothesized that certain
articles of clothing and accessories, especially designer brands, may make it
more acceptable to wear the same outfit twice in the presence of the same
people.
We surveyed 137 male and female college students to examine how they
would feel wearing the same thing if what they were wearing was "ordinary
clothing" or if they were wearing a designer brand. We also examined what
the average college student would be willing to spend on a designer brand,
even if it meant not owning as many items of clothing.
Introduction
• Why is it that when a person wears the same outfit repeatedly within a short
span of time, he or she is stared at? Some may consider this person
unclean, poor, or sick. Others may consider this person weird or strange
(Pilot testing).
• In a recent study by Wang and Griskevicius (2014), it was found that men
use expensive clothing to attract mates, while women use expensive
clothing and accessories to fend off female rivals and competition in the
race to find a mate.
• We considered the dilemma that women face on a regular basis: looking
into their closets full of clothing and exclaiming, “I have nothing to wear!”
Why is it that a woman has little desire to wear any of the clothing that she
has already worn?
• Women may be considering which rivals and potential mates will be in
attendance when choosing their clothing, and thus, feel the necessity to
constantly be updating their wardrobes.
• We believed that the average person would be less likely to wear an outfit
twice if the same people are present than if different people are present.
• We hypothesized that people would be less likely to wear the same outfit
twice if it had a generic label and that it would be more acceptable to wear
an outfit with a brand name label twice in the presence of the same people.
Method
Participants:
• Participants were 137 male and female undergraduates enrolled in an
introductory psychology course.
• Approximately 2/3 of our sample were freshmen, with the remaining
students scattered among the sophomore to senior years.
Materials and Procedure:
• As part of an in-class research activity, students were asked to fill out a one
hundred question survey measuring preferences for name brand and
generic label clothing and accessories.
• This questionnaire first presented scenarios in which the subject was
wearing brand name clothing and generic label clothing, and students were
asked to rate their perceptions of the subject based on a range of
adjectives.
• Participants were then asked how likely they would be to wear the same
outfit to multiple social occasions in the same week if the outfit had a brand
name label. The same question was asked again but this time, the outfit
had a generic label. We compared the results.
• The final section of the survey asked questions to gather information on
how much people would be willing to spend on new articles of clothing and
if they would be willing to spend more money on expensive designer
brands if it meant not having as many outfit choices.
• We gathered our data and ran a statistical analysis in SPSS.
Results
• Questions were answered using a scale of 1-5 with 1 being not at all, not
likely, or never and 5 being very much, very likely, or very often.
General Findings:
• When asked how often they look at their closet and feel that they have
nothing to wear, females seemed to relate to this dilemma more than men.
The average score for females was 4.22 (with 5 being extremely often). The
average score for male respondents was only 2.44.
• Both men and women said that they were not likely to spend money on
designer brands if it meant not having as many outfit choices. The average
score for men was 2.53 while the average score for women was 2.26.
When the Same People are Present:
• Men found it more acceptable to wear a generic brand dress shirt twice
(2.27) than to wear a brand name dress shirt twice (1.52).
• Females found it equally unacceptable to wear the same handbag twice,
regardless of whether it was a brand name handbag (1.38) or a generic
label handbag (1.3).
When Different People are Present:
• Males and females found it more acceptable to wear the same thing twice if
different people were present than if the same people were present.
• Men thought it was more acceptable to wear a generic brand dress shirt
(3.32) in this event than a brand name dress shirt (2.81).
• Females thought it was more acceptable to wear a generic handbag (3.22)
than a brand name handbag (2.96).
Generic vs. Brand Name Clothing:
• Males thought it was more acceptable to wear the same outfit twice if it had
a generic label (3.28) versus a designer label (2.91).
• Females said that it would be about equally unacceptable to wear the same
outfit twice regardless of whether it had a generic label (2.57) or designer
label (2.5).
References
Bellezza, S., Gino, F., & Keinan, A. (2014). The red sneakers effect: Inferring
status and competence from signals of nonconformity. Journal of Consumer
Research. In press.
Wang, Y., & Griskevicius, V. (2014). Conspicuous consumption, relationships,
and rivals: Womens' luxury products as signals to other women. Journal of
Consumer Research, 40, 834-854. http://dx.doi.org/10.1086/673256
Discussion
• Wang and Griskevicius found that women tend to favor expensive designer
brands in order to ward off female rivals. While our findings did not support
the research of Wang and Griskevicius, we did find a connection between
female competition and new clothing.
Clothing Motivation:
• Amongst college students, the desire to purchase expensive designer
brands was not very high, as both female and male participants tended to
favor quantity over quality in their wardrobes.
• These results may relate to the fact that women often look at their closets
and feel that they have nothing to wear. If women spend too much on
designer brand clothing, they will have fewer clothing choices and may be
forced to wear the same thing twice.
• Additionally, if a person is wearing a designer brand it may be more
noticeable if/ when they wear the same clothing twice. Generic brand
clothing is often not marked with any special symbols, so it is less likely to
be noticed by others.
2.27
3.32
1.52
2.81
1.3
3.22
1.38
2.96
1
2
3
4
5
Likelihood of Wearing Same Outfit if Same People are Present Likelihood of Wearing Same Outfit if Different People are Present
Male Generic Shirt
Male Brand Name Shirt
Female Generic Handbag
Female Brand Name Handbag
2.44
4.22
1
2
3
4
5
Male Female
Never
How Often do you Look at your Wardrobe and feel like you have Nothing to Wear?
Male
Female
Very Often