Aesthetic Rules in Women's Apparel: Empirical Fact or Fantasy

Abstract

Aesthetic rules derived from ancient Greece abound in college textbooks used in modern apparel design and selection courses. This study attempted to evaluate these aesthetic rules empirically. Based on measurements of six persistent features (skirt length, waist length, décolletage length, skirt width, waist width, décolletage width) of women's evening apparel from 1926 to 1980, the distribution of frequencies for each dress dimension was not uniform but demonstrated a preferred value or region. Likewise, not all physically possible values for the dyadic relationships were uniformly observed. Findings of this study indicated that considerable latitude was demonstrated by designers in their interpretations of aesthetic rules. Yet an underlying order emerged. Some of this order can be attributed to existing design principles, but in several cases the sheer magnitude of the discrepancy between what is taught as good design and empirical reality suggests that certain aesthetic rules may need to be rephrased.

Proportion in the Design of Women's Fashionable Clothing: A 50‐Year Retrospective

“…Limited numbers of studies have focused on proportion in apparel. Lowe (1984) studied proportions of evening wear and tested proportion rules, including the golden section found in apparel design textbooks. She also examined balance or the "equalization of attractions on either side of a centered vertical line or from top to bottom" (p. 169).…”

“…Other rules related to apparel, such as symmetry, in which the left and right sides appear to be visually equal on either side of a vertical line or asymmetry in which the left and right sides appear to be visually unequal, are usually discussed in textbooks. There are few studies of these rules related to apparel (Lowe, 1984).…”

Development of an Instrument for a Visual Analysis of Dress from Pictorial Evidence

“…This approach has been used in previous visual analysis research (DeLong & Cerny, 1983-1984DeLong & Minshall, 1988;DeLong, Salusso-Deonier, & Lartnz, 1983). This approach has been used in previous visual analysis research (DeLong & Cerny, 1983-1984DeLong & Minshall, 1988;DeLong, Salusso-Deonier, & Lartnz, 1983).…”

“…Although the majority of visual analysis studies reviewed did not evaluate instrument reliability, the studies that employed semantic differential scales (DeLong & Cerny, 1983-1984DeLong & Larntz, 1980;DeLong & Minshall, 1988;DeLong, Salusso-Deonier, & Lartnz, 1983) did attempt to evaluate the consistency with which larger groups of subjects utilized these measures in their assessments of pictures of clothing. In general, these studies concluded that semantic differential scales were useful in measuring collective perceptions of clothing.…”

Aesthetics: A Comparison of the State of the Art Outside and Inside the Field of Textiles and Clothing Part Two: Object

“…While sizing is based upon proportional ideals, fashion designers of the present century disregard aesthetic rules derived from the Greek ideal of proportional relationships when designing stylistic variations of apparel (Lowe, 1984;Lowe 1991). Lowe (1984) queried why the proportional order demonstrated in her study was so different from that predicted by existing proportional rules based upon the Greek ideal, the golden mean.…”