A new Kennesaw State University study is asking a simple but sharp question: can the clothes a celebrity wears to court shape how people judge them? In research led by students Emily Lesmes and Alaina Jean, working with Associate Professor of Marketing and Sales Hyunju Shin, the answer appears to be yes, at least when it comes to first impressions of remorse, respect, and sincerity.
What happened
According to Kennesaw State’s May 27, 2026 report, Lesmes and Jean, both part of the university’s First-Year Scholars Program, built a study around courtroom fashion and public opinion. The team looked at whether carefully chosen outfits, sometimes called a “blame look” in South Korea, change how people read a celebrity facing legal trouble.
To keep the project free of copyright issues, the researchers used AI-generated images of a fictional celebrity facing a DUI charge. About 200 people took part in the study and saw the same person arriving at a courthouse in three different outfits: casual clothes, a formal suit, and a more colorful, exaggerated look. They were then asked to judge how remorseful, respectful, or sincere the person seemed.
The result was clear enough for the team to report that clothing changed perception. The more formal the outfit, the more sorry the person seemed to participants. The study also found that a charitable donation did not change views on its own, but it did seem to help when paired with more formal dress.
Background and context
The idea behind the study did not come out of nowhere. Shin introduced the students to the South Korean concept of the “blame look,” which refers to outfits worn by celebrities when they appear in court. That idea became the base for the project at Kennesaw State’s Michael J. Coles College of Business.
The study also fits a wider pattern in public life. People often read meaning into clothing, especially when a famous person is under pressure. In this case, the clothing was not just fashion. It was part of the message the public was seeing. The research focused on whether that message can change how people think about guilt, remorse, and sincerity.
Lesmes said the project matched her interest in pop culture and fashion, while Jean said it connected with her interests in public relations and personal branding. Those comments help explain why the topic drew student researchers in the first place.
Why this matters now
This matters because celebrity images spread fast, and public opinion often forms before all the facts are known. If clothing can shape how a person is seen in a courtroom setting, that raises real questions for celebrities, brands, and media outlets that cover them. The KSU team’s findings suggest that a formal look may soften judgment, while a more casual or flashy look may send the opposite signal.
That does not mean clothing decides a legal case. It does mean appearance may affect how a person is read by the public, which is important in an age when image, reputation, and branding travel together. Jean pointed to that risk when she said the project could make companies more cautious about working with celebrities caught in controversy.
Expert view and source-based insight
The strongest insight from the KSU report is simple: presentation matters. Jean said the team found that formal dress made the celebrity seem more sorry for their actions. She also noted that a donation did not help on its own, but combined with formal clothing it made the person appear even more remorseful. That is a useful clue for anyone studying image, persuasion, or crisis response.
Shin’s role is also important here. As the faculty mentor, she connected the students to a cross-cultural idea and helped shape it into a research project. The fact that the study was presented at the Association of Marketing Theory and Practice conference in Myrtle Beach and at KSU’s Spring Symposium of Student Scholars adds more weight to the work, since the team has already taken the findings into academic settings.
Public reaction and likely impact
The public reaction, at least from the research itself, is likely to center on how fast people judge a person based on appearance. Many readers may see the study and think about celebrity court photos, red carpet looks, and the way social media turns small style choices into big debates. The KSU findings give that instinct a research base.
The likely impact is not limited to celebrities. Public relations teams, brand managers, and fashion watchers may all pay attention, because the study points to a larger truth: clothing can shape the story people think they are seeing. In a controversy, that story can affect trust.
What happens next
The KSU team is already moving the project forward. According to the university, the researchers are expanding the work to include female celebrities and are looking at how smiling and makeup may shift public perception. That next step may help show whether the pattern holds across different people and different cues.
That is the part to watch. If the next round of research finds similar results, the study could help build a fuller picture of how style, gender, and image shape public judgment in high-profile cases.
Common misunderstandings and wrong claims
One wrong claim would be that the study proved clothing changes guilt or innocence. It did not. The project measured how participants perceived remorse, respect, and sincerity. That is about public perception, not a legal verdict.
Another misunderstanding would be that the researchers used a real celebrity. They did not. The team used AI-generated images of a fictional person facing a DUI charge to avoid copyright problems.
A third mistake would be to say that any donation by itself changed opinions. The report says the donation had no effect on its own. It only seemed to matter when paired with a formal outfit.
Closing
This KSU study is a reminder that fashion is often more than style. In the right setting, it can become part of the message. Here, that message was about remorse, respect, and how much a person seems to care about the court and the public watching them. The research is early, but the signal is already clear: what someone wears can shape what people think they mean.
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