Personality Factors and Dress Style Tribes of Undergraduate Students

Consumers become members of style tribes when a specific style of dress is adopted. Personality may be one variable related to consumers' personal style of dress. Students in a fashion trend analysis course identified and described eleven style tribes on a university campus in the United States. Eight of the eleven style tribe descriptions’ were associated with designer names, brands, and/or specific retailers. The style tribe data were used to develop a questionnaire for the present study.

Data were then collected from 277 undergraduate college students who completed two questionnaires: 1) the NEO PI-R, an instrument designed to measure the five personality factors of the Five Factor Model and 2) a questionnaire with eleven style tribe descriptions.

Data were analyzed using canonical correlation. The major finding from the present study was that although personality was related to dress style, subjects reportedly adopted multiple dress styles. The findings of this investigation have theoretical implications regarding the social/psychological aspects of appearance and dress, and the marketing and retailing of appearance management products associated with designer names, brands, and/or retailers.