You are what you wear?

Some say that ‘energy dressing’ can align your clothing with your intentions to manifest the perfect life. Charlotte Cripps reluctantly retires her top wardrobe staples to see if it works

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I am dressing in harmony with the energy I wish to manifest.

That means bold prints, brash colours, statement jewellery and anything that will make me stand out. “Mum, why are you wearing crazy clothing?” my nine-year-old daughter Lola asks. “It’s an experiment,” I tell her. “I’m attracting abundance.”

At the behest of an energy dressing expert, I’ve ditched my high-waisted jeans and T-shirts for clothes that I’d never typically wear. Today, that means a stylish off-the-shoulder toga dress that’s coloured bright purple, and a giant shell ring on my finger. We head down to a local park in west London, dog in tow, and I notice some raised eyebrows from shopkeepers and other mums - they’re all used to seeing me looking quite unspectacular.

I’m following the guidance of fashion manifester Nieve Tierney, an energy healer and author who - days earlier - had helped me “clear my energy” in a reiki healing session. This “energetic reset”, as she called it, will help create a more positive and receptive state for manifestation and clear out any emotional blocks that might be standing in the way of me attracting my dreams.

Tierney’s new book, The Fashion Oracle, suggests that there is a connection between our desires and how we dress. It’s a bit like the blockbuster self-help book The Secret, which claimed that one’s thoughts and feelings can directly influence their external reality. Tierney goes one step further: if we dress a certain way, good things will come to us. Her book is further inspired by the legendary fashion designer Coco Chanel, who spent her life fascinated by esoteric and mystical practices, including tarot and astrology - elements of which she incorporated into her collections.