I had a moment last winter standing in front of my closet that can only be described as a full-body cringe.

Oversized sweats? Check. Cotton jumpers in various shades of beige? Check. An alarming collection of clothes specifically designed for horizontal activities? Also check.

Somewhere between moving from Boston to San Diego and living through a global pandemic, my wardrobe had become a graveyard of “comfortable” pieces that were sucking the joy out of getting dressed. Nothing sparked excitement. Nothing made me feel like her. Everything was soft, oversized, and deeply, tragically boring.

I looked like someone who’d given up. Which, to be fair, I kind of had.

The fur trenches and leopard print heels from my 2015 Boston days? Buried in a distant memory from another life. My current uniform was “perpetually ready for yoga but never actually going.” And while I love athleisure as much as the next California girlie, I’d crossed the line from “casual chic” into “has she left the house this week?”

Something needed to change.

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The Dopamine Dressing Intervention I Didn’t Know I Needed

I wish I could say I had some grand epiphany about reclaiming my style. The truth? I was scrolling Instagram (naturally) and saw someone talking about dopamine dressing.

If you haven’t fallen down this rabbit hole yet, dopamine dressing is the psychology-backed concept that what you wear directly affects your mood. Bright colors, fun textures, pieces that make you genuinely excited to put them on – they all trigger that feel-good brain chemical that makes you want to twirl in front of the mirror like you’re Carrie Bradshaw deciding between Manolos.

Fashion psychologist Dawnn Karen pioneered the research, and honestly? It makes perfect sense. When you feel good in what you’re wearing, you show up differently. You have more energy. You’re more confident. You stop apologizing for taking up space.

The opposite is also true: when you’re wearing the same oversized sweatpants for the third day in a row, you feel… blah. Uninspired. Like you’re just going through the motions.

I was very much in my blah era.

So I did what any commitment-phobic person does when they need to completely overhaul their wardrobe: I signed up for Nuuly.

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What Is Nuuly and Why Did It Change My Life?

Nuuly is a clothing rental subscription service.

You pick pieces you want to try – think of it as curating your own personal boutique every month – they ship everything to your door, you wear it for 30 days, and then you either buy what you love or send it all back for a completely new selection next month.

It’s the fashion equivalent of “try before you buy,” except you get to experiment with styles you’d never commit to purchasing outright. That sequined puffer bomber jacket you’re curious about but would never drop $200 on? Rent it. The toile red satin skirt that feels very “French girl in the Marais” but might be too bold for your actual life? Try it for a month and see.

For someone like me – drowning in beige cotton and desperately needing a style reset – it was perfect. Low commitment, high reward, and zero pressure to get it “right” on the first try.

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The First Box: A Dopamine Dresser’s Dream

I’ll be honest, I was nervous opening that first Nuuly box.

What if I’d completely lost my sense of style? What if I picked everything wrong? What if I opened it and immediately wanted to return to my oversized hoodie like a turtle retreating into its shell?

But then I started pulling pieces out.

A sailor-striped sweater that made me stand straighter just looking at it. Cropped leather trousers that screamed:

“Oh – You must’ve forgotten I am 100% that betch.”

Then it was a top with the kind of texture that makes you want to touch it every five minutes. And yes, that sequined puffer bomber jacket that was so extra and so perfect I wanted to wear it to the grocery store…so I did.

I curated my first outfit – my new leather trousers, a nylon see-through black colored shirt I already had, and a red and black plaid wool trench – and something clicked.

I looked like someone who had places to be. Someone who cared. Someone who remembered that getting dressed can be fun instead of just functional.

The girl who used to love getting dressed? She’d been in there the whole time, just buried under pandemic sweatsuit vibes 24/7.

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The Dopamine Hit Is Real

Once I started dopamine dressing, I couldn’t stop.

Every month, I’d curate a new Nuuly box based on whatever vibe I was feeling. One month it was all fitted jackets and tailored pants – very NY-exec chic. The next month, it was flowy dresses and fun prints – serving “creative genius energy.”

I started looking forward to getting dressed in the morning, which sounds small but felt revolutionary. Instead of reaching for the same sad rotation of loungewear, I was actually thinking about what I wanted to wear. What would make me feel good that day. What would give me that little boost of confidence before I even left the house.

The red toile skirt? Wore it to brunch and felt like I should be walking through Paris with a baguette under my arm. The sequined bomber? Perfect for a night out and made me feel like the most interesting person at the table. The cropped leather trousers? Became my go-to “I need to feel like I have my life together” piece.

And the dopamine hit was real. Getting compliments felt good, sure, but the real magic was how I felt when I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror and thought:

Okay, yes girl! We look like we mean business, hunny!

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Why Dopamine Dressing Actually Matters (Beyond Just Clothes)

I know what you might be thinking: “It’s just clothes. Does it really matter that much?”

And look, I get it. There are bigger things to worry about. World events, personal goals, whether Mercury is in retrograde again.

But dopamine dressing isn’t really about the clothes. It’s about remembering that you’re allowed to enjoy the small things. That taking care of how you present yourself – to the world and to yourself – isn’t shallow or vain. It’s the ultimate form of self-care, ladies.

When you’re stuck in a wardrobe rut, it’s usually a sign that you’re stuck somewhere else too. For me, the oversized loungewear phase coincided with pandemic depression, isolation, and a general feeling of “what’s the point?”

Rebuilding my wardrobe became a way of rebuilding my relationship with myself. Of remembering that I deserve to feel good. That joy can come from simple things like a well-cut trench or a skirt that makes you want to spin.

It sounds dramatic, but getting dressed with intention again genuinely shifted how I moved through my days. I had more energy. Creativity started sprouting up again. I showed up differently in conversations, in my work, in my life.

All because I stopped wearing clothes that made me feel like I was waiting for my life to start and started wearing clothes that made me feel like I was already living it.

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The Dopamine Connection Nobody Talks About

Real quick, though: can we talk about dopamine for a second?

When you stop drinking, you lose one of your primary sources of dopamine. Alcohol floods your brain with it – that’s literally why it feels good in the moment. So when you remove it, you’re left searching for other ways to get that feel-good hit.

Some people find it in exercise. Others in creative projects or new hobbies. I found mine in a lot of places over the past nine years – morning coffee rituals, building this business, lifting weights – but dopamine dressing? That was an unexpected source I didn’t see coming.

Getting dressed with intention became one of those small, daily moments where I could give myself a boost. Not the artificial, fleeting kind that alcohol provided. The real kind – the kind that comes from doing something good for yourself.

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How to Start Dopamine Dressing (Without Overthinking It)

If you’re reading this from the depths of your own oversized hoodie collection, wondering if you’ll ever feel excited about clothes again, start here:

Audit your closet honestly. How much of what you own actually makes you feel good? Not comfortable – we’re not throwing out your favorite sweats – but genuinely happy when you put it on? If Marie Kondo senses it’s not bringing you joy, it’s time to let it go.

Try a rental service. Nuuly changed everything for me because it removed the pressure of commitment. You’re not dropping hundreds on pieces you might not wear. You’re experimenting, playing, figuring out what actually works for your life now.

Pick pieces that excite you. Not what’s trending. Not what everyone else is wearing. What makes you want to put it on? For me, that’s anything with leather, lace, sequins, or an interesting texture. For you, it might be bold colors, statement prints, or classic tailoring. Follow the excitement.

Channel your style icons. I’m not saying you need to cosplay as Miranda Priestly (though if you want to, her style is flawless). But think about the people whose style makes you stop scrolling. What is it about their outfits that appeals to you? Start there. Maybe make an inspo wardrobe board on Pinterest and start curating your style that way.

Give yourself permission to have fun. This is the most important part. Somewhere along the way, a lot of us decided that caring about clothes was frivolous or vain. That comfort was the only thing that mattered. That “elevated basics” were the height of sophistication.

And sure, there’s a place for all of that. But there’s also a place for fluffy bomber jackets and checkered bell bottoms and leather pencil skirts that make you feel like you could take on the world.

You’re allowed to want both.

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The Girl in the Leather Trench

My closet looks completely different now.

There are still cozy pieces – I’m not a monster – but they’re balanced with things that make me genuinely excited to get dressed. Structured blazers for days I need to feel like a total boss bitch. Leather trousers for when I want to feel like a powerhouse. That sequined bomber for when I need to remember that life is supposed to be fun.

And every month, I get to refresh and try something new. Maybe next month it’s all romantic dresses and delicate jewelry. Or edgy vintage finds.

The beauty of dopamine dressing – and services like Nuuly that make it accessible – is that you’re never stuck. You can evolve. Experiment. Figure out who you are now instead of who you used to be.

The girl who loved a pleated white trouser and leopard print heels in 2015 Boston? She’s still here. She just needed the right wardrobe to remind her.

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Ready to start your own dopamine dressing journey? Try Nuuly and see what happens when you actually look forward to getting dressed again. Pick pieces that excite you. Wear them with zero apologies. Return what doesn’t work and try again next month. And when you use the above link(s) to sign-up, you’ll save $$$ on your first month (and I’ll get a lil’ kickback, too!)

Your oversized hoodies will still be there when you need them. But so will the version of you that remembers getting dressed is supposed to be fun.

xoxo,
Jaime