A Quantitative Analysis of Dress Dimensions: Comparison of Models for Taiwan and the United States from 1966 to 1986

Abstract

This research compared variations in the six dress dimensions measured by Richardson and Kroeber (1940) occurring over a 21-year period in Taiwan and the United States. The sample was drawn from illustrations in fashion magazines. Mean annual dress measurements were graphed Cycles were apparent in both cultures for skirt length and possibly decolletage length. Cycles for skirt width were apparent in the United States only. Waist width, waist length, and decolletage width did not exhibit cyclical variation. Multiple regression tests were usedfor each dress dimension in each culture to compare a model based on gross national product, consumption expenditures, and stock market price index to one containing these variables plus median age of the population. The economic and demographic model tended to predict dress dimensions better than the economic model. Of the economic variables, gross national product and consumption expenditures were most consistently related to dress in both cultures.