Phoebe R. Apeagyei: The Influence of Body Image and Body Shape on Clothing Selection
This study provides an insight into consumers’ attitudes towards body image and body shape and their significance to clothing selection.
Sproles and Burns (1994) have indicated that body image is a critical component of clothing and fashion.Presentations of these images and visualisations of body forms are crucial to the way clothing is viewed and utilised. Today’s fashion relies heavily on mass market sales which involves producing ready to wear clothes for a wide range of consumers. A recent study by Mintel (2006) highlighted the fragmented nature of the UK fashion and clothing market, as well as present women as the main purchasers of clothing. Attitudes are changing as consumers are becoming more interested in their appearance and more concerned with keeping up with the latest fashions (Coates, 2005).
Body image, a person’s feelings about his or her body and how that is projected, is a key influence on fashionable shapes and figure types; and ideals have changed with time. Women seek to alter their body shapes and sizes in order to represent their perceived ideals and some have resulted in measures such as extreme diet regimes and surgery. Many overestimate their body size to be larger than their actual size. Various retailers have responded by engaging in ‘vanity sizing’, which involves ‘tweaking’ their clothing sizing systems in order to gain competitive advantage. However, unrealistic clothing sizing measures (Alexander et al., 2005) and the media promoting ‘ideal’ fashionable female figures, ‘frame standards of beauty’ and contribute to negative body image (Tebbel, 2000). Fashion and trends are extensively spread as technological advances now allow information to be more widely disseminated.
This study highlights the roles of body shape and image representations from the UK consumers’ perspective and presents an evaluative assessment of what is considered fashionable, acceptable and worthwhile. Data obtained from structured interviews by thirty 19 – 44 year old females and one hundred fashion consumers provide the basis for assessment. Pictorial images of fashion icons and computer generated images provide representations for body shape assessment. The study has implications for clothing and fashion marketing.