Meaning of Garments: Relation between Impression of an Outfit and the Message Carried by its Component Garments

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Abstract
This paper examined the idea that the impression created by an outfit of clothing is a simple sum of the impressions produced by the component garments. The issue is equivalent to the idea that the evaluative meaning of a phrase is effectively the sum of the evaluations of the words that compose it. 54 judges rated pictures of outfits made up of all 16 combinations of 4 tops and 4 bottoms (skirts or trousers) and also rated the impressions produced by the garments alone. Ratings were made for 49 attributes. In most cases, the relationship between the outfit-impression and that of the component garment was strong but a linear model was not adequate. Discussion with the judges about their ratings suggested some of the ways the attribution was carried out, particularly when the garments carried conflicting messages.