In this study, it is explored the effect of fashion therapy on depression, positive emotion, negative emotion, appearance interest, body satisfaction, self-esteem, and self-efficacy of female patients. Eight cancer patients and 12 general patients participated in the 4-week fashion therapy program. When comparing results before and after the fashion therapy, depression and negative emotions were significantly decreased while positive emotions and self-efficacy were significantly increased. There was no significant influence on appearance interest, body satisfaction, self-esteem, and self-efficacy. In group comparison, significant changes were observed in depression, positive emotion and negative emotion regardless of groups. However, cancer patients indicated a significant improvement in self-efficacy compared to general patients who did not whereas patients with a high level of depression showed a significant enhancement on body satisfaction compared to patients with a low level of depression. Also, patients with a low level of pain indicated a significant improvement on self-esteem and self-efficacy compared to patients with a high level of pain. Perceived effect and satisfaction of the fashion therapy were relatively high. Study results may positively contribute to building a knowledge and experimental base of fashion therapy that is widely applicable to diverse parties for the future.
This study is to explore the relationships between sensibility images of mannequins and apparel shops. A total of 113 consumers participated in experiments with photo stimuli of 2 mannequin types (realistic and semi-abstract mannequins) and 4 brand shops of women's casual wear. In results, luxurious, chic, strong, sexy, and young images were more strongly perceived from realistic mannequins than semi-abstract mannequins whereas simple and soft images were more strongly perceived from semi-abstract mannequins than realistic mannequins. Shops using realistic mannequins indicated strong images whereas shops using semi-abstract mannequins presented soft, comfortable, and feminine images. In the correlation analysis, luxurious, chic, strong, and young images of realistic mannequins were consistent with shop images using realistic mannequins. Also, luxurious, chic, soft, comfortable, and feminine images of semi-abstract mannequins were consistent with shop images using semi-abstract mannequins. In order to clearly communicate brand concepts with consumers, mannequin that is a key element of visual merchandising in the apparel shop, should be carefully selected, considering the accordance with shop image.