The Effects of Clothing Styles and Colors on a Body Image Perception

The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of clothing colors, clothing styles on women's body image perception. The experimental design was 229(perceiver's gender clothing stylesclothing colors) factorial design with between-subjects design. Subjects were 320 college students in the metropolitan area of Seoul. Perceiver's gender, clothing styles, and clothing colors gave a significant influence on the 3 variables of shoulder, the upper half of the body, and bust. Shoulder and the upper half of the body had an interaction effect by clothing styles and clothing color. Perceiver's gender gave a significant influence on hip size, length of leg, height, clothing styles did a significant influence on hip size, length of leg, height, and slender figure. Clothing colors gave a significant influence on length of leg, height, and slender figure. Length of leg and slender figure had an interaction effect by perceiver's gender and clothing styles. Hip size had an interaction effect by perceiver's gender and clothing color. Hip size had an interaction effect by clothing styles and clothing color. The results of this study support that coloration of clothing and clothing style affects perception of stimulus persons wearing apparel.