Have you ever stopped to consider how very important the clothes you are wearing really are? Believe it or not, how you dress says more about who you are than all the words you could use to describe yourself. Fashion marketers know this and so they are very careful about how they describe the fashions they are promoting. In fact, one of the most useful advanced degrees for a marketing professional in any niche is an online masters in philosophy – a degree that helps you understand how the human mind works and what, as humans, we perceive to be important.
These perceptions are what marketers speak to and a good marketer could probably also get a job in a government think tank simply because of their ability to think and reason in a logical progression to get the outcome they desire. Here are a few thoughts on why you should be careful with what you wear and how your clothing paints a vivid picture of the inner you.
One Great Thinker of Our Time
As a clinical psychologist, Dr. Jennifer Baumgartner is actually also a philosopher in the first degree. She understands how we are perceived by our clothing and even wrote the book – literally! In her book entitled You Are What You Wear: What Your Clothes Reveal About You Dr. Baumgartner looks at how we choose our clothing based on our personality type and then goes on to explain why this is so important. In fact, you can even approach this concept in reverse and work on changing things about yourself you don’t like by changing your wardrobe. It’s a fact she substantiated while researching for her book.
How Fashion Marketers Use This Philosophy
One of the typical ways in which marketers use this way of thinking, this philosophy if you will, is to build an image of how you will feel and be perceived by others if you wear the clothing or accessories they are promoting. In other words, it’s an entire psychology/philosophy of perception that helps them devise marketing strategies. Most consumers want to be seen by others as we see ourselves and so we dress the part. Marketers help you envision another reality, another perception of who you are and that is how they are so successful at what they do. They lead you in an ‘if-then’ journey through which you will be or feel a certain way ‘if’ you wear this style or this color or this length. “If you wear this then you will look like this and people will think of you like this.” Classic philosophical deductive reasoning.
Whether you are simply trying to alter others’ perception of who you are, or you are seeking to become a marketing professional, you really can’t go wrong studying for an online masters degree in philosophy. It’s all about the logic in the conclusions we draw from the clothes being worn. Reason out how to change your life or the life of another by altering the fashions being worn and you’ve just earned yourself a name in the philosopher’s hall of fame. Who would have thought that all it takes is a philosophy degree to be a real fashionista.
