Dawnn Karen

Dawnn Karen is an American fashion psychologist, professor of psychology, author, and freelance model.

Early life
Karen was born in Cleveland, Ohio. She is of African-American and Jamaican heritage. In secondary school she skipped the 5th grade and soon after attended high school at the Cleveland School of the Arts, majoring in vocal music (opera) and minoring in creative writing.

For her undergraduate studies, Karen attended Bowling Green State University, majoring in Psychology and minoring in Ethnic studies. While attending, she made and sold her own jewelry. For her graduate studies, she attended Teachers College, Columbia University, graduating with a Masters of Arts in counseling psychology. While there, she interned at a public relations agency.

Personal life
Karen currently resides in New York City.

Fashion psychologist
Karen claims to be the world's first fashion psychologist, and has trademarked the term "Fashion Psychology Field". However, University of Delaware professor Jaehee Jung has offered a course titled the "Social Psychological Aspects of Clothing", combining the fields of fashion and psychology.

In the beginning of her career, she traveled the Middle East and Eurasia to gather research, creating her fashion psychology field theories. She has worked with clients such as Klarna, A$AP Rocky, PayPal, and Honey.

She has spoken at the Kyiv Security Forum on the burkini ban, and at the United Nations on empowering women via fashion psychology.

In 2018, the New York Times described her as "The Dress Doctor". The Times has also called her "the world’s first fashion psychologist".

Professor
Karen became the first black female psychology professor at the Fashion Institute of Technology in April 2015. There she taught courses such as Color psychology and General Psychology in the Social sciences department.

Modeling
Karen worked as a freelance model while attending Teachers College Columbia University.

Publications
Her book Dress Your Best Life; How to Harness the Power of Clothes To Transform Your Confidence was published in the UK on March 26, 2020. It was also published in the US under Dress Your Best Life; How to Use Fashion Psychology to Take Your Look -- and Your Life -- to the Next Level on April 14, 2020.