This is a matter of viewpoint, too. From "objective" analysis only, the purpose of the uniform would indeed seem to be to allow the body of the wearer to be appreciated with minimal hindrance. Yet it doesn't follow that contemporaries would wish to see muscle - a flapping belly might well be aesthetically far more desirable. A jumpsuit that reveals every shape might be what "unfit" people would choose to wear, while "fit" ones might be ashamed of their unfashionably utilitarian or emaciated looks and rather hide them behind saggy clothing.
Body shape is certainly as much subject to fashion as the means of covering or accentuating it. And the look that today is being marketed as sexually attractive would be considered generally repulsive, indicative of low social standing and lack of means to maintain oneself, and/or specifically a turnoff sexually by many bygone eras.
Timo Saloniemi
