How Women Dress For Other Women
“If you can’t be better than your competition,” Vogue editor Anna Wintour once said, “just dress better.”
Indeed, new research suggests that women don’t just dress to be fashionable, or to outdo one another when it comes to enticing men. They also dress for other women.
But Wintour’s quote misses some of the nuances that go into the outfits women choose with female friends, co-workers and acquaintances in mind. It’s not just about dressing better. In fact, my colleagues and I found that women can be motivated by another factor: avoiding the slings and arrows of other women.
The psychology of women’s wardrobes
My social psychology lab explores how women navigate their social relationships with other women. With my co-authors, Oklahoma State graduate student Ashley M. Rankin and Arizona ...
