Fran quoted me as saying: > > >l, yes. Attractive, definitely not.
and responded: > There is "attractiveness" that is not a come-on.... with examples such as: > dress noticeably well and are well groomed > look very sharp > display success. > high-fashion clothes We are not in disagreement. That was the exactly the distinction I was making when I clarified my use of "attractive" in my original quote, which you snipped: > In a business setting, in particular, there are many situations in > which a woman does not want to look "attractive" because she is taken > less seriously or is assumed to be sending sexual signals. Competent, > professional, tidy, tasteful, yes. Attractive, definitely not. The original poster talked about how he liked gloves on women for aesthetic reasons and then commented that "the entire purpose of clothing is to make one attractive," which he felt business clothing does not do. That struck me as a much narrower definition of "attractive," which I maintained in my response. Your points make perfect sense for a broader definition, but that was not the one I was discussing. I also was speaking specifically of the "business casual" clothing that the original poster cited (as I quoted). This is not relevant to all professional settings; as you mention, fields such as performing arts, fashion, and sales have particular cultures that are reflected in their clothing expectations, and my statements did not refer to that. In the offices I've worked in, it was the secretaries and lower-level assistants that wore the snazzy hairstyles, trendy jewelry, shorter skirts, figure-flattering tops, and the like. The higher the level, the more sober the women dressed -- definitely well-groomed and successful, but not at all "attractive" in the narrower sense. I learned early on that the degree to which I got hit on at the office was directly proportional to the "attractiveness" of my clothing. It is very hard to work with people who are looking at you rather than your work. I learned to dress in a way to give off a "hands off" signal, which is in fact the exact opposite of "attractive" in the narrower sense. Perhaps things have changed in the last 10 years, but I don't hold out a lot of hope on that. --Robin _______________________________________________ h-costume mailing list [email protected] http://mail.indra.com/mailman/listinfo/h-costume
