Why do women dress up and men don't?

The obvious answer to the question is that men are slobs, but perhaps there is more to it.

It was not always so. In ages past, the clothes of wealthy men were at least as fancy as those of their wives. At some point in history, the tide turned and men ceased being show-pieces, assuming instead a serious and sober image, with minimal use of colour. On the other hand, women came to the fore and the entire colour palette was theirs to use. Nowadays, the common daywear attire is pretty much unisex, especially in winter - plain long pants for both sexes.

As for formal occasions, men are restricted to dark suits, while women enjoy great latitude. They can wear dull or bright colours, long or short skirts, or various styles of pants, including male outfits. Female clothes are undeniably more interesting to look at; male attire is boring by comparison. I sometimes think that no-one (except gays) pays much attention to how men dress, though this may be just my own limitation.

There is far less scope for men to dress up than there is for women. The options for a man are restricted. There is little latitude for flights of fancy, as there are no male equivalents of sequins and lace, not to mention stockings, lingerie or wonder bras. Some men, like Liberace and Elvis, dress flamboyantly or even outrageously, but they are very much the exceptions and they look weird. However, some sections of gay male culture are conspicuously different from the straight variety. Outrageous clothes, jewellery and accessories are favoured over traditional male norms of dress. This is a flashy counter-culture that rebels against conventional male fashions.

In the animal kingdom, especially birds, where there are obvious sex differences, it is the male that is fancy, not the female. The male has to impress the female so that she will consent to mate with him. This carries over to humans, where in general the man does the courting. Yet the physical attractiveness of the male is much less important than that of the woman. Men are far more susceptible to the visual attractiveness of the opposite sex than are women. Physical attractiveness is primary for most men. On the other hand, women are more attracted to personal qualities, such as charisma and humour, as well as wealth and power. Although women are usually more concerned with esthetics than are men, this does not apply in mate selection. Why this anomaly?

There are two aspects to dressing up: dressing to be sexually attractive and dressing esthetically. Women want to look attractive to men and at the same time elegant. These two requirements can pull in different directions. Men generally appreciate sexy clothes, whereas women generally do not. Women who dress in a sexy way risk being thought of as frivolous or worse by both sexes.

We still live in a male dominated society, so that women feel that they have to please men more than vice versa. One of the easier ways to do this is to dress well. Yet in spite of our sexist culture, most women dress to please other women, rather than men. This is probably because female cultural norms arise due to consensus among women, rather than due to male influences.

Advertising, magazines and films all propagate the idea that women are slim, attractive and smartly dressed. These are the images we see all around. The media project the idea that a woman is something to look at and admire. This is true of magazines for men as well as the majority of magazines, which are for women. As far as I know, there are no magazines designed for women that show naked or saucy photos of men. Of course, there are such magazines for gay men. Overall there is pressure on women to dress well, in addition to the requirement of being fashionable. The demands of elegance and those of fashion can also pull in different directions.

Despite the pressure, or maybe because of it, many women rebel against the requirement to dress up and choose to look scruffy instead. Hence the fashion for torn knees. Also, practicality and convenience are important factors, often over-riding taste. Because most women do not make the effort to dress well day-to-day, there is negative pressure related to looking "over-dressed". In Australia, apart from Saturday night and Melbourne Cup Day, the norm is for women to dress in an uninteresting way. However, generally speaking, their clothes are still more interesting than those of men.

I think women dress up more because our culture, like most others, decrees that women are to be shown off, admired and desired, whereas men are not.