Welcome to
Carolyn Mair Consulting Limited
Applying Psychology to make Fashion better
The Psychology of Fashion
Professor Carolyn Mair PhD CPsychol FBPsS
Carolyn Mair Consulting Limited
APPLYING PSYCHOLOGY TO MAKE FASHION BETTER
Behavioural Psychology, Cognitive Psychology, Psychology of Fashion, Fashion Psychology
Founded in 2017 by Dr Carolyn Mair, Carolyn Mair Consulting Limited is considered the go-to destination for insights about the relationship between psychology and fashion.
Carolyn Mair is a consultant working with fashion businesses. In her advisory roles, she generates transformational insights and strategic services that improve how your business interests intersect with all your stakeholders. Whether you are looking to become more socially and environmentally sustainable, have more informed customer insights, develop and implement a behaviour change programme, or enhance the wellbeing of your workforce and customers, Carolyn Mair Consulting has the expertise to turn ambition into reality.
Having recognised the value of bringing Psychology to the fashion industry many years ago, Carolyn took the opportunity to broaden its reach in 2012 when she was invited to join London College of Fashion (LCF), University of the Arts London (UAL) to establish a Psychology Department and create the world’s first Masters and Bachelors degree programmes to apply Pscyhology specifically in the context of Fashion. These began recruiting in 2014 and since that time, ‘fashion psychology’ has gained rapid momentum internationally. After 20 years in academia, Carolyn left to establish Carolyn Mair Consulting Limited and work more closely with the industry.
Recent clients include H&M Group, Stitch Fix, We Are the Romans, Oxfam UK, Selridges, Joules, The Office Group, Hackett, H&M Group, Boden, Dorthothy Perkins, Gap, Unilever, Wella, Farfetch, LVMH, Conde Nast and many more.
In addition, to business consultancy, Carolyn continues to mentor and educate the future of fashion through guest lectures, keynotes, podcasts and interviews with institutions including the Business Council for the Arts Texas, Chester University UK, Winchester School of Art UK, Nottingham Trent University UK, Miami Dade College USA, Conde Nast College of Fashion & Design UK, and St Andrews University, Scotalnd.
Carolyn Mair Consulting Limited’s founder, Dr Carolyn Mair, is frequently featured in international media including press, TV and radio. Her interview with Alexa Chung for Vogue’s series, the Future of Fashion, has been viewed almost half a million times.
Click here to read the full articles on this website or follow @psychologyforfashion and read the full articles of selected media at this link.
Selected PRESS, MEDIA , PODCASTS etc. in reverse chronological order:
Shape, Who Magazine, New Zealand Herald, The Telegraph, I-D Magazine, The Guardian, PopSugar, The Guardian, WWD, The Telegraph, British Vogue, The Sun, The Mail Online, Hull Daily Mail, The Times, The Sun, The Good Men Project, The Sun, Slow Fashion Movement (podcast), Saga Voices, Girls Life, OI Canada, The Guardian, Well+Good, Mr Porter, Bustle, The Sun, Screenshot Media, S Moda for El Pais, YahooSport.com, Yahoo News UK, Michigan Daily, Stylist, The Guardian, Huffpost, British Vogue, Stylist, Good on You, Guardian, Stylist, Fabulous magazine, Popular Science, Cosmopolitan Germany, The Zoe Report, Harrods magazine Summer 2022, The Sourcing Journal, Whowhatwear, The daily Express, The Indudtry Leaders’ magazine, The Hustle, Digital fashion and art (Clubhouse), TRT World, The Telegraph, Selfridges, Metro, Town & Country Magazine, Psycom, Bloomberg Business Week, Stylecaster, Porter, KLEUR & STIJL, Vogue UK, Readers Digest, Metro UK, The List, Brinkwire, Daily Mail, ABC Radio, Business Council for the Arts, Texas (video), ABC News, Life Matters (audio), Lifestyle Asia Hong Kong, The Mirror, Haliax Courier, Observer, WNYC, BIZCommunity South Africa, The eyeopener, Cult MTL, The Telegraph, BBC Radio 4 Woman’s Hour, de Volkkrant, Unbiased Label, Volkskrant, Refinery 29, Riise World, Align Thoughts, Coveteur, Vogue Business, Whowhatwear and Yahoo Lifestyle, StitchUp Goldsmiths University, Refinery29, Sydney Morning Herald, Bon Magazine, Mens Health Australia, BBC Radio Scotland, Thomasnet, Psychwire, The Rick Ungar Show Daily Podcast, NBC News, IOL Zanzibar, The Independent South Africa, Allwork.space, Otago Daily Times, Mindful, Huffpost, The Sun, The Psychologist, The Office Group, UNILAD, The Observer, The Sun, WWD, ELLE France, The Guardian, Harpers Bazaar, Woman & Home, The Sun, Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, Harpers Bazaar, The Sun, Vox, The Times (Health), MEL magazine, FIT NY, H&M.Beyond, WWD, Glamour, Refinery29, Wall Street Journal, Refinery 29, Refinery29, Simply Sewing Magazine, Daily Express UK, Refinery29, NBC Universal, The Telegraph, Yahoo Lifestyle UK, Whowhatwear, Refinery29, The Observer, The Guardian, Ecotextile News, The Atlantic, Vogue Australia, Quartz, Vogue Espana, Shondaland, ELLE UK, Evoke.ie, BBC Radio 5 Live, BBC Radio Scotland Breakfast Show, The Voice of Islam Radio, Stylist, ATVToday, The Observer, The Telegraph, Harpers, MSN UK, Hello!, TRAID, The Observer, WhoWhatWear, Refinery29, Irish Examiner, The List, The Walrus, Oprah Magazine, Silver Linings, Grazia, nylon.com, medium.com, Public Seminar The New School NY, Canvas8.com, WWD, today.com, Elle Canada 2020, The Business of Fashion, Ladders, El Pais, The Financial Times, Irish Times, NBC News, Yahoo.com, The Kit, Toronto Star, The New York Times, The Guardian UK, Business Record, The Independent UK, The Sydney Morning Herald, Business Record USA, Wall Street Journal, That’s Not My Age, Sunday Times South Africa, The Age Australia, Evening Standard, London UK, Irish Times, EIN NewsDesk, whowhatwear.com, Vogue UK, Fashionista, The Genetics Gym, ABC Australia, Grazia, Honey, Drapers, BBC Newsbeat, British Psychological Society, American Psychological Society, Honest Mum, Undressing Fashion, TK Maxx, HuffPost.
For the stories behind these articles, please follow this link.
Follow Carolyn on social media:
Twitter @Carolyn_UK, LinkedIn @Prof Carolyn Mair PhD, Instagram @psychologyforfashion.
Psychology for Fashion
Clothing is our second skin. It literally touches everyone physically and psychologically. Yet the psychology of fashion is concerned with far more than clothing. People are the heart of every level of the fashion industry, from the design of clothing, through retail to consumption and disposal.
The underpinning philosophy of Carolyn Mair Consulting Limited is to support ethical and sustainable business behaviour. Our purpose is to build successful ethical and sustainable business practices that protect the planet and enhance the wellbeing of the its customers, staff, stakeholders and the business.
Carolyn Mair Consulting Limited works with the scientific principles that underpin psychology: evidence, integrity and rigour.
Creativity
What are the optimal conditions for creativity to flourish? Beyond designing beautiful textiles and garments, how is creativity important in the fashion industry? How can creativity be applied to problem solving to support a more ethical and sustainable fashion industry? Creative thinking underpins good thinking.
Perception
Perception describes how we make sense of the world and engage with products and services. Perception is a factor of sensory environmental input, memory, socialisation, experience, context and attention. Consequently, our view of the world is unique to us. To better understand the world, we need to include the perspectives others, especially those not like us.
As Daniel Kahneman says “All we see is not all there is”.
Identity
Fashion enables us to stand out and belong simultaneously. Our clothing is part of our identity: who we are. We make a decision about whether we like someone or not in in under a second based on appearance alone and then seek ‘evidence’ to support our initial judgement. Why is this initial judgement so fast and so powerful?
Consumption
What psychological processes are involved when we desire and shop for fashion? What would make us take better care of our clothes? Psychology can answer these questions and bring about a sustainable change in behaviour. Now is the time to do this, but are the industry and consumers ready to change for good?
Testimonials
Psychology.fashion‘s happy clients include TK Maxx, Gap, Urban Outfitters, Matalan, P&G, Unilever, JustSo London, Clique Media Group, as well as several national and international PR companies and Higher Education providers in the UK and overseas.
Psychology.fashion‘s founder, Carolyn Mair, is also frequently featured in the press and online media in the UK and internationally. Her interview with Alexa Chung for the Vogue series, The Future of Fashion, has more than 350,000 hits.
“We worked with Carolyn on a campaign for our clients, a leading fashion brand. Her expertise and professionalism were outstanding. She delivered beyond our expectations to the delight of our clients. It was a pleasure working with Carolyn and we warmly recommend her work to you.”
“Dr Carolyn Mair brings psychology to life through her skill of simplifying complex science into everyday language. She is responsible for my confidence to speak and research in this new discipline of applied psychology and I feel very grateful to have studied under her. As an activist and commentator in fashion for 35 years, I can now add academic rigour and scientific thinking to my address. As a result I believe I am a more effective professional.”
“Many psychologists wouldn’t credit fashion as a topic worthy of their comment, but Carolyn has completely flipped that idea on its head and proven otherwise. Thanks to her outlook, knowledge and keen eye, she has become a trusted source for me as a fashion journalist over the years.”
“Just a quick note to say thank you so much for the [Consumer Psychology in Fashion] course last weekend. I found it very informative. Your style was lovely and down to earth.”
“Carolyn gives a new and inspiring perspective on fashion, with new vocabulary and unique expertise. As a brand specialist and community marketer, she challenges and strengthens my mind about fashion, the current industry setup and human behaviour in general. Carolyn brings an impressive and accessible meaning to behaviour in the fashion industry. She is giving the industry back its genuine personality and individuality at a time it needs it most.”
“It was very interesting to interview Carolyn Mair for the Spanish Vanity Fair website, because she has a very deep knowledge about an issue that has not been widely discussed in the fashion industry, and that today seems specially relevant”.
“I once again realised how much I enjoyed this [Psychology in Fashion] course; it changed my whole thinking and led me to my dream job. I feel very lucky to have had you as my tutor. THANK YOU! “
“It was an incredible experience having Carolyn as a teacher during the short course on Psychology in Fashion. She was emphatic, supportive, helpful, positive and passionate about her innovative studies. In addition, she delivered right to the point solutions for our diverse projects, regarding how we can translate the knowledge of human behaviour and the psychological insights within the fashion industry, into creative ideas that can contribute to the betterment of everyone.”
“I love learning more about psychology from the great Carolyn. She is very passionate about the subject and I really loved it. I have been observing and analyzing myself with what she taught us in the course, it’s been really interesting and can’t wait to learn more about psychology of fashion. It would be great to take another course with her in the future.”
While teaching the class, Fashion Forecasting & Research, this past summer at Miami Dade College, it was an honor to host Dr. Carolyn Mair as a virtual guest lecturer. The lecture was brilliant and the information she presented was necessary for the understanding of human behavior and how it relates to style and fashion. This virtual lecture is proof to the fact that even in the middle of a pandemic and a continent apart, that we as humans can connect and can create space for high quality education. I am grateful for the work of Dr. Carolyn Mair. – Christine E. Lauto, Professor + Scientist + Artist + Designer + Multiple Award Winning Photographer.
I have recently read your book, The Psychology of Fashion, and it has completely changed my life. This book inspired me to create my own clothing line (Shine Clothing) designed around spreading positivity and happiness through subliminal messaging and the psychology of colour while raising money and awareness for charity. I aim to connect with a number of psychologists in the next year in order to expand further. I want to tell you a big Thank you.
Wear now, pay later! @BoF
When we want to have the latest fashion item, we might [...]
Pieces of Mind, by Jen Nurick, published in Vogue Australia November 2020
Image: COLLAGE: ARQUETTE COOKE P H O TO G R A [...]
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