Variations in Perception of Clothing as a Function of Dress Form and Viewers' Social Community

Abstract

The study tested the prediction that social attributions made on the basis of clothing cues vary both as a function of the dress form and as a function of the particular social community of the viewer. A 4 by 4 factorial design was employed with students from one of 4 different faculties responding to a questionnaire about a photograph portraying one of 4 types of dress. While clothing conveys a variety of social meanings, the meaning attributed depends on the context of the viewers' social framework of interpretation.