Abstract
Aesthetic rules derived from ancient Greece abound in college textbooks used in modern apparel design and selection courses. This study attempted to evaluate these aesthetic rules empirically. Based on measurements of six persistent features (skirt length, waist length, décolletage length, skirt width, waist width, décolletage width) of women's evening apparel from 1926 to 1980, the distribution of frequencies for each dress dimension was not uniform but demonstrated a preferred value or region. Likewise, not all physically possible values for the dyadic relationships were uniformly observed. Findings of this study indicated that considerable latitude was demonstrated by designers in their interpretations of aesthetic rules. Yet an underlying order emerged. Some of this order can be attributed to existing design principles, but in several cases the sheer magnitude of the discrepancy between what is taught as good design and empirical reality suggests that certain aesthetic rules may need to be rephrased.
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