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Who Do Women Dress For?

Rosalyn Morris
3 min readJul 17, 2022

Other women or men?

Photo by Alvin Balemesa on Unsplash

There are two trains of thought concerning whose benefit, or gaze, women dress for: other women or men. Many women argue that women dress for other women. This is either out of competition or for the need of compliments and approval. Women who dress for other women get an inner thrill when they walk into a room, and another woman looks them up and down, with a glint of envy in their eyes. This makes the woman’s day — the hope that they made another woman feel bad about themselves in comparison to her. The other woman will never be as fly or gorgeous as she.

The women who dress for compliments, or validation, from other women love the female camaraderie that can occur when discussing where bags or shoes were purchased. This is the woman who puts on her best outfit hoping that another woman she encounters will compliment her attire, or at least be inspired by her. She loves it when another woman comes up to her and tells her that her makeup is flawless, and asks her where she got her whole ensemble. This makes her day — letting her know that her outfit was noticed — maybe even by someone less stylish than she who could take notes!

Women who dress for men either dress to be desired or to be admired. Women who dress to be desired pay special attention to detail. They typically wear form-fitting clothing, bare skin, and they like high…

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