Why are women sacrificing a lot of time, money and effort to follow fashion? Is it because:
1.) men are demanding it?
2.) women have an inner desire and instinct to look beautiful?
3.) competition with other women pressures them to follow fashion?
4.) being beautiful gives them power over men?
Any ideas, opinions?
More-or-less #3. An oversimplification, of course, but it hits the general idea.
Why is this sort of gynophobia on a philosophy forum?
I hate myself you know. 
So fear me morbidly. 
I would say number 2.
#2 is true, but is divorced from fashion.
Ask a random population of men how they feel about capri pants.
Ask a random population of women how they feel about capri pants.
If #2 were correct, then the answers would agree . . . but they don’t.
I would say it’s all of the above.
I think women are guided by their aesthetic instinct. Fashion is only a way to create and promote new things. You have to have the “wow” factor in fashion to convince women to wear it. If something new comes up women want it because it is new and hot (because they imagine that they would look hot in them). In hot I mean cool. Ummm…English language is strange sometimes.
I also like to add that the points 1., 3. and 4. maybe true because of women’s oppressed role in society. Without male oppression there would be only point 2.
#3 will always be valid. Ever hear of Charles Darwin? Screw your notions of “oppression”- men and women naturally compete for mates. Humans have our elaborate preening and courting rituals as do other species. It’s natural selection.
A woman’s social status is very much based on how she takes care of herself. A man’s social status is mostly based on his career.
Therefore a woman will do everything she can to dress well. Both other women and other men will respect or disrespect her according to that.
A social status is also determined by the quality of the mate, both for women and men.
To conclude, women dress well to increase their social status by:
Old ladies dress well just for reason number 1. Young ladies dress well mostly for reason 2.
Males and females of every species have gender specific ways to attract mates. That’s the point. Young men will guzzle beer & fight a lot. Young women will make sure their thongs show over the top of their low riders. The ritual changes as we get older, but it’s no less absurd.
Smart men will just pay cash. It’s cheaper in the long run to buy milk that board a cow.
#3, even at the cost of being less of what a man really wants.
So married women are not interested in fashion? Or marriage is not the end of the competition?
According to my previous post, married and old women still dress well because their social status depends on it. What would you think of a married 70 years old woman who dresses like a homeless? You would think she has a low value, that her life was unsuccessful, that she probably didn’t manage to marry a successful man.
Therefore all women dress well.
Even when a young woman spends 2 hours dressing before going to a club, she does it not necessarily to attract a male but so that other girls will be jelous of her and the men will give her special attention. This way she reconfirms her social status. She may have a boyfriend or a husband, but she still needs that social confirmation from other people.
Men get this confirmation by being funny and interesting, and by having good jobs. Women get this mostly by being pretty, smart, and educated.
Looking well is more important for women than for men for 2 reasons:
The reasons above are the exact reasons from my previous post in a different order.
Women do not have selves:
“A woman, in essence, has no real individuality but plays any part she deems is attractive and necessary to achieve her goal of belonging and reproducing.” [Satyr, The Feminization of Man.]
http://www.ilovephilosophy.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=143894
This is ridiculous. You can say such things about men too. Their individuality stops at being aggressive, impolite, horny: they like cheating and drinking beer. Come on.
Women can and must adopt in order to survive. But this is because of men. Women were oppressed in human evolution and this oppression possibly altered and formed their genetic makeup. Their instincts and motivations are submissive sometimes. And yes a woman wants children and a husband. But why does it prove that we have no selves? Not logical.
I for one am attracted to wealthy women.
Is it mutual?
Speaking only for myself and married for 21 yrs. I clean up to go out in public so that I look presentable to be on my husband’s arm and he cleans up to be presentable for me. Because reality, if you go out to dinner with others or go socialize with friends if you look scruffy it will cause you social problems. Around the house we don’t have to be our best. Heck we have seen each others worst and if that has not scared us then everything else is presentable.
Fashions bore the spit out of me. Simple dresses never go out of style, Nice blue jeans are always acceptable and simple blouses are like simple dresses. As far as makeup? I don’t wear it. I rarely decide to put some on.
On the other hand most of the females I know don’t have this attitude. I can boil their attitudes down to 2 reasons sex and social standing.
I admit it. I like attention, so I get dressed and put on my make-up for more of it. (I know that is too honest, but — so what) If I went to a cocktail party, I would expect more criticism from the women, but would care more what the men thought. I don’t worry anymore about what my husband thinks because I do believe he is a big fan. Let’s face it, I’ve won him over…
From my experience? Single women dress for men. Most married women or women with boyfriends dress for other women.