The science of fashion

[BradP]

Fashion can be understood within the context of biological signals. Just as female mallards are attracted to certain colors of feathers on males, women are attracted to certain types of clothing on men.

Charles Darwin was the first to attempt to construct a theory of why animals have such extravagant signals and physical ornamentation.

"The sexual struggle is of two kinds: in the one it is between the individuals of the same sex, generally the males, in order to drive away or kill their rivals, the females remaining passive; while in the other, the struggle is likewise between the individuals of the same sex, in order to excite or charm those of the opposite sex, generally the females, which no longer remain passive, but select the more agreeable partners."

-Charles Darwin (1809-1882):
The Descent of Man, 1871, excerpts on Sexual Selection

The two ways to attract a mate in the animal kingdom are:

1. By killing or driving away your rivals.
The classic example of this is the deer's antlers. They serve no environmental advantage but rather serve to show which male is more dominant. The idea of being "dominant" is very important. Remember that word. Showing dominance is the most common way to remove the competition. It is more common to drive the competitor off than it is to actually kill the competitor.



2. Trying to "excite or charm those of the opposite sex."
This increases your choice of whom you can breed with. To "excite or charm those of the opposite sex" is an adaptation based on attraction rather than domination. The classic example is the peacock's plume.

The plume is costly for the peacock. There is no environmental advantage for the peacock to have the plume. In fact, it makes him more vulnerable to attack by predators.

The plume itself takes up physical resources to produce. A study published recently shows that the male's plumage is a direct indicator of the fitness of his immune system and nutrition. A peacock with a large plume has not only good genetics, but also access to essential resources such as food and water. Less fit or younger peacocks are not able to produce such elaborate plumes as the older, more physically fit peacock.

The Study:
Condition Dependence, Multiple Sexual Signals, and Immunocompetence in Peacocks
By Anders Pape Møllera and Marion Petrieb
Behavioral Ecology journal Vol. 13 No. 2: 248-253
© 2002 International Society for Behavioral Ecology
The plume provides no benefit whatsoever to the male peacock, other than sending a biological signal to female peacocks. The peacock's plume communicates to female peacocks "I am fit. Choose me for reproduction."

It is also a statement of elitism and exclusivity. It is saying "I am better than other peacocks who cannot produce this plumage."

Make a mental note of these four qualities:

- Dominant
- Attractive
- Elite
- Access to resources

These are the qualities animals look for when choosing a mate.

Different species have different ways of expressing these qualities. For lions, a dark mane on a male is considered more desirable than a light mane. Growing a dark mane requires more resources, so the male is able to send a signal to the females: "I have access to food and resources."

Animals that are social and live in groups find more complex ways of communicating these qualities, and humans always seem to find a way to make things more complicated than any other animal. So let's take a moment to examine how these qualities are communicated among humans."Turn Ons" and "Turn Offs"

Here's a list of the attractive and unattractive qualities that you can demonstrate using your clothing. These "turn ons" and "turn offs" are not things that women will readily admit to, nor would they be willing to explain these things to you if you asked a woman flat out about clothing. Most women are not consciously aware of what factors cause them to feel attraction to a man.

Turn Offs

- Dressing like a "nice guy."
Women are not attracted to nice guys because they are not dominant."Nice guys" are submissive to women and to other men in most situations.

- Dirty looking or poorly groomed.
There's a fine line between that "rugged look" and looking dirty. A little bit of stubble can be good because it looks like you're not trying too hard. But you have to be careful of looking dirty in general. It communicates that you have no self respect, and you will be viewed as a social liability. Not elite. Little access to resources.

- Afraid of standing out.
Trying too hard to blend in shows that you are a fearful person with no identity of his own. Again the turn off is a lack of dominance.

- Standing out too much.
Stand out too much and you'll look like an attention whore. This can be bad in a few different ways. You might attract negative attention, making you a social liability to the people around you. You might look ignorant about the cultures and subcultures around you.

-Trying too hard
This can make you look too submissive, as you're trying too hard to please other people. The ironic part is that in the beginning you are going to have to try hard. It just shouldn't look like you tried hard. Trying hard is not elite.

Yes, that's right, you are going to have to put in time and effort to learn about fashion and put together a look for yourself. But when you're done, it shouldn't look like you stood in front of the mirror all day obsessing over what to wear. Obsessing too much about one particular outfit is not masculine, it's girly. The hard work happens in the beginning, when you educate yourself and shop for a new look. After that it shouldn't be too difficult. Your new look should seem effortless to others.

- Scared of confrontation.
This goes back to the "blending in" thing. Women are drawn to men who are they think would be tough in a confrontation. If you try too hard to blend in, women will speculate that you might be a pussy.

-Too worried about what others think.
I think we all know a guy like this, someone who's just so self conscious that it's a drag to be around him. This is something that you can communicate with your choices in clothing.

- Dismissive about the importance of fashion and image.
Some guys really don't care about looking good and being in style. These are the same kinds of guys who burp in public and hardly ever get laid. Don't get lumped in with these guys. They are too common to be considered elite.

- Has an outdated look.
Some guys stick with one look for way too long. A decade or more goes by, and they still look the same. With a guy like this, women assume that he's "out of touch" in general. This shows a lack of access to resources. In this case, the resource is information. A man with an outdated look has no access to new information about style.


Sounds pretty confusing, huh?

Trying too hard vs. not trying hard enough....

Too worried about what people say vs. ignorant about the cultures around you...

Fashion is a delicate balance of many different factors. It's a good start to at least be aware of these various factors so you can avoid a few pitfalls.

Turn Ons

- Alpha qualities
Many of the qualities on this list fall under the category of "alpha male qualities." Women want to be around a man who is a leader and a winner. They unapologetically reject guys who seem like they're struggling in life.

- Immune to social pressure.
There's so many different kinds of social pressure on us all. Pressure to fit in, pressure to stand out, pressure to change, pressure to stay the same....the list goes on and on. If you are constantly yielding to social pressure, you will live a confused, frustrating life. Women intuitively know this, and they gravitate towards men who ignore social pressure and live by their own rules.

- Educated in cutting edge fashion.
Just having an interest in fashion makes you far more attractive to most women. If you've actually educated yourself in this area, you are a rare prize. You're ahead of 90% of the other guys out there.

- Has access to specialized information.
It's the 21st century. We're living in the "information age." Information=Power=Wealth.
Some forms of information are careful guarded secrets, particularly when it comes to fashion. Fashion taste-makers intentionally change what's "in style" rapidly so it's difficult to keep up with. This separates people into 2 categories- those who "get it" and those who don't. If you are in the first category, you show everyone around you that you have access to special information that most people can't access or don't understand. Women instinctively understand that access to specialized information is a predictor of long term wealth and success. Some women consider this access to be more important than a man's current wealth status.

- Triggers her latent attraction mechanisms.
All women have latent attraction mechanisms in their subconscious. Most of the time, these are stereotypes that were planted in her subconscious by pop culture and the media. Guys who can trigger these latent attraction mechanisms are eligible for all sorts of special treatment. The normal rules just don't apply anymore.

- Well groomed or has interesting grooming.
This shows that you have enough resources to spend time and money on your grooming. It also shows that you have a high level of self respect.

- Current and up to date.
This is particularly important when dealing with top tier women. Young, attractive women want a guy who understands trendy pop culture, fashion, style, music, etc. If she is seen with a guy who is "out of touch" she risks losing her own social standing.

- Understands subtle communication.
Women are subtle communicators. They respond best to men who speak their subtle language. Style and grooming require attention to detail. If you can create a style that has nuances and subtleties, women will assume that your life has interesting nuances and you will be able to understand her subtle ways of communicating.


I've got a 20 page PDF that goes into a bit more detail on this if you're intrested.

You can DL it on rapidshare. Use this link, then scroll down and click "free" for download type, then the next page will give you a choice of servers to DL from.

http://rapidshare.com/files/53696369...Intro.pdf.html