o why is the correlation between the inclusion of a romantically connectable woman and the increased isolation of the "urban stranger" through his clothing important? The suggestive motive behind the flâneur fashion trend, that is the increased success of feminine clothing in connecting romantically with women, becomes apparent and this notion is contrary to our current perceptions of masculinity being solely attractive to women. More to the point, the idea is very much contrary to conservative ideas about clothing and how it related to sexual orientation in Caillebotte's own time. According to a French professor of legal review from that time, Ambroise Tadieu, who had published the first widely read book in France about homosexuals and sodomy in 1857 (going through seven editions until 1878), "preoccupation with clothing and coiffer are the external reflections of the "'true' homosexual" (Broude 134). Yet, Caillebotte's paintings seen as pressure to pay careful attention to clothing indicate the exact opposite, that clothing is a external reflection of a true heterosexual. Placing this within the context of Caillebotte's life and time, it becomes obvious that these depictions of social isolation were a means in which to justify his own flâneur lifestyle and clothing and even defend his sexuality. The period of the late 1860s through the early 1880s "was a period during which "¦ sexual practices on the one hand and social and personal identity on the other could no longer be comfortably separate" (Broude 120) and therefore, Caillebotte, whose "social identity" was that of flâneur, wished to connect the flâneur to heterosexual desire by depicting women as the motivating factor in dressing as a flâneur. In short, Caillebotte isolated his "urban strangers" in an attempt to justify feminization as a way to connect romantically with women not men. Therefore, bent on changing society's perceptions of his social identity, Caillebotte didn't just paint as an artist; he painted as a flâneur.