"Dopamine dressing" is popular, and the consumer market needs simple happiness

In recent times, dopamine dressing has become a new trend in consumer psychological changes. This article explains the relevant content and I hope it will be helpful to you.

Since the beginning of summer, "dopamine dressing" has become a new trend that is hotter than the weather.

On social media, fashion bloggers and celebrities have been attracted by this style of bright colors and contrasting colors, and have released a series of "dopamine dressing tutorials" and cross-dressing videos. Coffee and new tea brands have also quickly followed this summer trend and launched "dopamine coffee" and "dopamine tea" products. The phenomenon of highly saturated "dopamine color matching" all over the Internet has made some netizens sigh that "fashion is a circle", and the non-mainstream color matching that was once in QQ Show has now become a new trend.

Since 2020, from the Morandi color system, Klein blue, and even the retro trend of the "Y2K style", global color trends have experienced a transition from a relatively simple and plain color matching style to increasingly bold and visually impactful colors.

The popularity of "dopamine dressing" this summer also reflects a new trend guided by a new round of consumer psychological changes in the market.

1. Everyone wants the “happiness factor”

Different from the Morandi color system and Klein blue, which are named after artists, "dopamine dressing" comes from the book "Dress Your Best Life" written by fashion psychologist Dawnn Karen. In the book, she mentioned that "wearing optimistic clothes can release a lot of dopamine, a neurotransmitter that promotes mood." Therefore, the definition of "dopamine dressing" is actually a dressing style that creates a sense of pleasure through clothing matching.

In terms of actual visual experience, "dopamine dressing" has changed the past popular exquisite elegance and simple low-key color style. While using highly saturated colors to attract the eye, it also makes people feel lively and cheerful. Therefore, after "dopamine dressing" became popular on the Internet, the word "dopamine" not only refers to the high-brightness and mixed color matching style, but also has the extended meaning of "happiness factor".

The popularity of "dopamine dressing" is inseparable from offline scenes where young people gather, such as music festivals. With the recovery of the offline performance market, young people are flocking to music festivals across the country. The trendy label of music and the open and free atmosphere of the scene have not only made it a gathering place for "trendsetters", but also allowed many young people to try out diverse dressing styles through this special scene.

Therefore, at the music festival, you can see all kinds of fashionistas who insist on wearing whatever they want, from hot girls, Asian bitches to Y2K, from performance art to cosplay. No matter how exaggerated the style is, you can see it on the lawn of the music festival. Therefore, some netizens said, "All the clothes that ordinary people think cannot be worn out on the Internet are at the end of the music festival."

As a new page of the "music festival outfit guide", the "dopamine outfit" wins in color compared to the "spicy girl outfit" that is popular this summer. When the "dopamine sweet girl" with colorful dyes, fluorescent vests and suspenders, and various bright color accessories stands in the dark crowd under the stage, she can be quickly spotted without a second glance. Therefore, in addition to the mature and cool "spicy girl outfit", this "style that is a bit childish for elementary school students, but just right for college students" has also become a hot topic on social media.

On Xiaohongshu, the #dopaminewear topic has been viewed over 220 million times, with over 2.52 million related notes. On Weibo, in addition to the #dopaminewear# topic, which has 250 million views, the topic of "celebrity + dopaminewear" has also become a frequent hot search. Celebrities including Jin Chen, Deng Chao, Huang Zidao, Zhao Lusi, Guan Xiaotong, Qin Lan, etc. have all appeared in related topics, which shows people's desire for the "happiness factor".

In fact, the popularity of "dopamine dressing" has completely transcended the boundaries of gender, age and occupation, and has become a popular carnival that everyone participates in. On social media, bloggers who call themselves "dopamine boys" and "dopamine sweet girls" try their best to show the breath of youth; on short video platforms in the past, "grandfather bloggers" with changeable dressing styles also personally caught up with the new round of trends; in addition, bloggers with professional labels such as white-collar workers, doctors, and flight attendants have also joined the queue of chasing the "dopamine" hot spot in their own ways.

2. Brands follow the trend to grab traffic, and the concept of "dopamine" is rampant

Merchants always have a keen sense of smell. After "dopamine" became a new Internet buzzword, many brands quickly summarized the color techniques of "dopamine dressing" and the connotation of "happiness factor". It is worth mentioning that the bright colors commonly used in "dopamine dressing" correspond well to the colors of summer fruits, providing coffee and tea brands with an opportunity to take advantage of the trend.

In mid-June, Luckin Coffee took the lead in launching the concept of "dopamine ice coffee" to attract customers for its Zhuama Watermelon Latte, Summer Grape Latte, Orange C Americano and other products. A few days later, Kudi, a copy of "Luckin Coffee", also used the keyword "fruit dopamine" to preheat new products with fruit flavors such as bayberry and grapefruit. In terms of promotional materials, both parties used large-scale, highly saturated fruit colors, firmly grasping the essence of the "dopamine" style.

In the tea beverage field, which is best at creating popular products, a number of brands such as Shuyi Shaoxiancao, Yihetang, and Jidong Shaoxiancao have also taken action. Among them, Shuyi Shaoxiancao uses the concept of "dopamine fruit tea" to promote its own fruit products such as avocado yogurt shakes, fleshy grape yogurt, and a bucket of fruit tea; Yihetang shouts the slogan "Ice creates dopamine" and launches the dopamine milk brick series; Jidong Shaoxiancao chooses to launch a joint flash event with the oat milk brand Oatly, launching the "Dopamine Fruit Shop", calling on users to participate in the event and check in at offline fruit stores.

The brands that have noticed the "dopamine" traffic are not only coffee and new tea beverages, but other catering brands have also joined the battle to vie for the "dopamine brain". On the Xiaohongshu platform, Taotaoju Restaurant uses the concept of "dopamine tea" to promote a variety of colorful Cantonese dim sum; Danguixuan uses a large area of ​​pure fruit background with fresh food, focusing on the "summer dopamine" product series; even Gelaoguan has launched a "dopamine hot pot". Although the hot pot and cool color scheme are slightly inconsistent, the red pot bottom, yellow beer, black tripe, and pink waist slices can barely correspond to the "dopamine" color scheme.

In addition, the participation of "non-staff players" such as Guangzhou Park Hyatt Hotel and Guangzhou Nanfeng Langham Hotel shows that the battle for "dopamine" has entered a white-hot stage. The "dopamine" meals and ice cream desserts launched by them, not to mention the rationality of the integration of the product itself with the concept of "dopamine", just looking at the color matching of the promotional posters is enough to reflect their good intentions.

The phenomenon that brands are scrambling to grab the concept of "dopamine" reflects that "dopamine" has indeed become the hottest online topic and an important visual element to attract young consumers. At the same time, the "keeping up with the trend" of coffee and new tea brands also objectively reflects that the brand strategy of relying on rapid new products and continuous creation of hot products in the past has begun to converge.

At a time when raw coconut, orange and kumquat drinks have become a thing of the past, product innovation stagnation, brand budget cuts and other factors have led to the disappearance of popular products. Therefore, taking advantage of the popularity of "dopamine" to make micro-innovations in communication materials has become a marketing behavior with the lowest threshold for brands. However, the popularity of "dopamine" not only provides brands with opportunities for marketing, but also reveals new trends that are gradually emerging in the consumer market.

3. The consumer market needs simple happiness

The reason behind the extension of "dopamine dressing" from a popular style to the consumer market is not only due to the brands' proactive efforts, but also to the "healing" effect of colors on the psychological level and the pleasure brought by consumption itself. Psychologists believe that different colors have different effects on people's emotions, and colors with higher saturation, such as bright yellow and light pink, are more likely to cause positive emotions. In addition, people's special associations with different colors based on their respective social life experiences will also determine the impact of colors on personal emotions.

For most people, the bright colors used in "dopamine dressing" not only easily bring positive emotions due to its high saturation, but the rich colors are also similar to summer fruits, which easily triggers consumers' associations with "summer" and "coolness". Therefore, when current brands use the concept of "dopamine" to promote their products, it is also easier to impress consumers.

From the perspective of consumers' psychological activities, the pleasure brought by consumption itself is also one of the driving forces behind the popularity of the "dopamine" concept. The "retail therapy" proposed in the Chicago Herald in 1986 pointed out that people will achieve self-regulation, release stress, and relieve negative emotions through shopping - to sum it up in one sentence, "shopping makes people happy." There is another important reason that supports the popularity of "dopamine dressing": the consumption threshold to become a "dopamine boy" or "dopamine sweet girl" is not high.

The focus of "dopamine dressing" is not on style but on color matching. Therefore, even basic clothing such as T-shirts, vests, and suspenders can quickly master the "dopamine style" as long as the color is bright enough. In addition, accessories made of ordinary materials such as plastic, diamonds, and stickers are also not financially burdensome to buy because they are very cheap. Moreover, there are many types, from glasses, hairpins, necklaces, mobile phone cases to handbags, covering almost all regular SKUs. It does not cost too much to experience "dopamine dressing". This is more in line with the current young people's desire to experience all the unknowns, but their consumption concepts are becoming more and more rational.

From the perspective of the changing trends, the rise of “dopamine dressing” actually has a similar background to the popularity of Y2K. Around 2000, new and old technologies and cultural thoughts constantly collided. The Internet bubble during this period made Y2K, which was full of surrealism and absurdity, popular on the Internet. The “non-mainstream” style of Y2K at that time represented the struggle of young people against reality.

In recent years, Y2K has returned to the popular stage because people have experienced fear and confusion since 2020, but at the same time they still have beautiful expectations for the future. Coupled with changes in the living environment and the resurgence of the concept of AI, people have begun to re-examine the meaning of reality, life, and work, and then project their desire for the future onto daily wear and other life expressions. With the relaxation of policies after the epidemic and the recovery of the overall environment, people are slowly coming out of confusion and starting to rediscover the simplest pleasures. Under the residual heat of Y2K, "dopamine wear" has given new styles to daily wear.

At the end of 2022, Pantone, an authoritative color research organization, released the 2023 color of the year - Viva Magenta (color number 18-1750). In the "2023 Spring and Summer Fashion Color Trend Report" released earlier, Pantone also predicted that 10 bright colors similar to those widely used in "dopamine dressing" will become a new trend this year.

In its description of the color of the year, Pantone mentioned that this is a vibrant, fearless and inspiring color. It is inspired by the natural red dye cochineal, which has survived for thousands of years and tenaciously shows its beautiful color to the world. The vice president of the Pantone Color Institute said that the hard shell of cochineal also shows the courage and fearlessness that people around the world have gained in the past two years, so Extraordinary Magenta as the color of the year is also to encourage bold experiments and self-expression.

In other words, after experiencing a period of lows, when people gradually return to their normal lives, their attitudes and lifestyles have also changed. After experiencing a closed life, people began to yearn for the outdoors, so they found freedom on the grass at the music festival and expressed their attitude towards life with eye-catching outfits. Despite the consumption downgrade, under the "lipstick effect", people are still willing to invest in life expenses within a controllable range for fashion, shopping, and other behaviors that can bring pleasure.

The popularity of the concept of "dopamine" is not just a change of trend, but also reflects people's beautiful imagination of the future and their simple desire to grasp happiness in the present.

Author: Chuxia; Official Account: Jingzhe Research Institute