Traditionally women are expected to be more colourfully and flamboyantly attired than men.
Although this can encourage originality and self-expression, more usually women are just encouraged to package themselves as objects for men, thereby reinforcing men's conditioning to view women as objects. Men visually assess and classify women in the light of their preconceived attitudes, and this presents a major barrier to be overcome in breaking down stereotypical attitudes.
This packaging effect of women's clothing is difficult to break down even in modern dress having, as it does, much to do with men's apparent predisposition to notice physical attraction almost as a reflex response. Thus women in conventionally female clothes are seen as being pretty (or not), but when they adopt men's formal clothes, even as an act of subversion, they are often assessed in terms of 'sexiness' or 'provocativeness'. If they adopt men's informal wear they may become just 'poseurs'. Whatever they do, the dominant perception is in the eye of the beholder.
Men, however, are perceived as functionally dressed - the work ethic (formal, sporting, casual). But when men adopt traditional female clothes or sheets, blankets etc., they appear ridiculous. Men don't wear dresses because they don't dress to please!
For the photos here and on other pages in the magazine, I deliberately chose models of near identical age, height and measurements and used a neutral pose in order to eliminate as much as possible factors such as physical dominance, emotional response (aggression, attractiveness) and so on. But it might be interesting to repeat the exercise with a range of models of varied sizes and ages in order to explore further the importance of clothes in determining attitudes. After all, fashion works on the basis of establishing an image and selling others a preconceived idea about oneself.
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