The empirical aesthetics of fashion: Contextual factors that shape (or do not shape) clothing preferences

Previous research in the psychology of fashion has examined individual factors that predict preferences for particular garments, including personality (e.g., the Big Five), demographic variables (e.g., age and gender), and national culture (e.g., the UK vs. the USA; Hur et al., 2023, 2025). However, as fashion is multifaceted, clothing preferences may also be influenced by contextual factors. In this talk, I report on two such factors: the attractiveness of a garment’s wearer (the “model effect”) and prior visual exposure. Both sets of studies are currently under review in peer-reviewed journals. With respect to the “model effect”, I report three studies that consistently demonstrate that when dresses are presented together with a wearer/model, attractive wearers/models increase positive ratings of the dresses. This effect was robust, emerging both when participants were explicitly instructed to evaluate the dress itself (Study 2; N = 180) and when they assessed the image as a whole (Study 1; N = 54), as well as across experimental (Studies 1 and 2) and naturalistic (Study 3; N = 30) settings. With respect to prior visual exposure, I report three experimental studies (Ns = 172, 162, and 183) in which participants were repeatedly exposed to boiler suits, dresses, and coats, with exposure frequency, task instructions, and stimulus presentation systematically manipulated. The findings, supported by a meta-analysis, indicated that prior exposure alone did not reliably increase preference for a particular garment. Instead, preference increase through exposure were observed only when viewers experienced positive affective responses during exposure. In line with previous research, stable individual differences (age, gender, and personality) robustly predicted baseline preferences. Taken together, these findings highlight the multifaceted yet selective factors that underpin everyday clothing preferences.