Investigating Individual Differences of Subjective Words in Fashion Domain

Abstract

This paper discusses individual differences in the use of subjective words (e.g., cute and cool) in the fashion domain. With the advancement of image captioning technology, we can search for preferred items based on images with high accuracy. However, most previous studies have been limited to objective words (e.g., red and long-sleeved). While there have been studies focusing on words related to sensibility (e.g., soft and casual), they have generally dealt with expressions of common styles and have hardly addressed subjective words that vary with individual perceptions. Allowing searches of item images using subjective words could lead to a more fine-tuned adaptation to individual preferences and improve the user experience. Therefore, as a preliminary study towards image search using subjective words, we investigate individual differences in the use of subjective sensitivity words using a large dataset from a fashion-specific social networking service.