<\/p>\n
Can the outfit a celebrity wears to court influence how the jury or public perceive Working with Associate Professor of Marketing and Sales Hyunju Shin, the students “We’re mostly looking at how people perceive the person,” said Jean, a public relations The inspiration came from South Korea. Shin, who is Korean, introduced the students To avoid any copyright issues, the team used AI-generated images to create a fictional They found that the celebrity\u2019s choice of clothing significantly influenced perceptions.<\/p>\n \u201cWe found that the more formal you dress, the more you were perceived as sorry for your actions,\u201d Jean said. \u201cAnd we also found that if you made a charitable donation, while it didn\u2019t have any effect on its own, if you dressed more formal, then you were able to be perceived as even more sorry.\u201d<\/p>\n The pair recently presented their findings at the Association of Marketing Theory For Lesmes, a marketing major, the project was a natural draw.<\/p>\n “I’ve always really been into pop culture and fashion,” she said. “Seeing that as Jean, whose interests include public relations and personal branding, said the project \u201cIt\u2019ll definitely influence how cautious companies are,\u201d Jean said. \u201cCompanies nowadays do like to take risks with how they perceive themselves, but with this it definitely will push them to look for more formal and safer partnerships.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2013 Story by Christin Senior<\/em><\/p>\n Photo provided<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n A leader in innovative teaching and learning, Kennesaw State University offers undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral degrees to its more than 51,000 students. Kennesaw State is a member of the University System of Georgia with 11 academic colleges. The university’s vibrant campus culture, diverse population, strong global ties, and entrepreneurial spirit draw students from throughout the country and the world. Kennesaw State is a Carnegie-designated doctoral research institution (R2), placing it among an elite group of only 8 percent of U.S. colleges and universities with an R1 or R2 status. For more information, visit kennesaw.edu<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.kennesaw.edu \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" KENNESAW, Ga. | May 27, 2026 Alaina Jean and Emily Lesmes Can the outfit a celebrity wears to court influence how the jury or public perceive them? Kennesaw State University students Emily Lesmes and Alaina Jean have been studying exactly that. Working with Associate Professor of Marketing and Sales Hyunju Shin, the students who are […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2434317,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25177],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2434316","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-celebrities"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/KSU-researchers-study-the-impact-of-celebrity-fashion-on-public.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2434316","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2434316"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2434316\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2434318,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2434316\/revisions\/2434318"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2434317"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2434316"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2434316"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2434316"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n \t\t\t\t\t\tKENNESAW, Ga. |
\n \t\t\t\t\t\tMay 27, 2026<\/strong><\/p>\n
\n them? Kennesaw State University students Emily Lesmes and Alaina Jean have been studying
\n exactly that.<\/p>\n
\n who are participants in the First-Year Scholars Program<\/a><\/span> are exploring whether courtroom fashion shapes how the public perceives someone’s
\n guilt, remorse, or sincerity.<\/p>\n
\n major. “If they perceive the person to be sorry for their actions or if it seems like
\n they don’t respect the court at all.”<\/p>\n
\n to a phenomenon called the “blame look,” which are carefully curated outfits celebrities
\n wear to court appearances. Jean and Lesmes, students in the Michael J. Coles College of Business<\/a><\/span>, built their study around that concept, examining whether these carefully curated
\n outfits celebrities wear to court appearances actually move the needle on public opinion.<\/p>\n
\n celebrity who was facing a DUI charge. Approximately 200 participants in the study
\n were asked to view the same fictional celebrity entering a courthouse in three different
\n outfits. In one scenario, the individual wore casual clothing; in another, a formal
\n suit; and in the third, more colorful and exaggerated attire. Researchers then asked
\n participants to evaluate how remorseful, respectful, or sincere the individual appeared.<\/p>\n
\n and Practice conference in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, and at KSU’s Spring Symposium of Student Scholars.<\/a><\/span> They are now expanding the research to include female celebrities, exploring how
\n factors like smiling and makeup shift public perception.<\/p>\n
\n an opportunity to do a research project really drew me in because it was basically
\n all my interests in one thing.”<\/p>\n
\n highlighted the risks companies face when partnering with celebrities involved in
\n controversy.<\/p>\nRelated Stories<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n