A UK Guardian article describes a study on the psychology of concert dress. First, four young, talented violinists were filmed playing the same music, dressed in three different outfits of varying levels of casualness.All these violinists were music students, from the top 10% of their year, and they were vetted to ensure comparability : they were all white Europeans, size 10 dress, size 4 or 5 shoe, and aged between 20 and 22.
The audio tracks were overdubbed with the identical recordings (played by an unfilmed musician).
This meant there was no room for anyone to argue that the clothes made the musicians perform differently, and when the researchers checked in a pilot study, nobody watching the clips had spotted the switch.
The 30 judges were a mix of music students and professional players. And the results?
For technical proficiency, performers in a concert dress were rated higher than if they were in jeans or a clubbing dress, even though the actual audio performance was exactly the same every time (and played by a separate musician who was never filmed). The results for musicality were similar: musicians in a clubbing dress were rated worst.
Draw your own conclusions. Amelia Nagoski (among others) has blogged extensively about women conductor’s outfits.
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