The model effect: How the facial attractiveness of a model shapes clothing evaluation

Clothing plays an integral role in the formation of first impressions and has been studied within social perception. However, little attention has been paid to the reverse process: whether evaluations of clothing are influenced by the attractiveness of the person wearing it. Across four studies, results consistently revealed a "model effect," whereby attractive faces increased positive ratings of the clothing. This effect was found to be robust, emerging whether participants were explicitly instructed to assess the clothing (Studies 2, 3 and 4) or the whole image (Study 1), and across experimental (Studies 1, 2 and 4) and naturalistic (Study 3) settings. The "model effect" emerged when considering dresses worn by female models (Studies 1, 2 and 3), as well as models varying in ethnicity, age, and gender wearing everyday clothing other than dresses (Study 4). This effect was not moderated by one's experience and attitudes towards the target garment (Study 2) nor general interest and engagement towards fashion (Study 4), suggesting that the effect is a general bias. These findings extend prior work on the "attractiveness halo effect," where the appeal of a model can be transferred to fashion items, highlighting how attractiveness-based biases operate in everyday aesthetic judgements.