Soon after the Canadian-born artist Leanne Shapton ordered a nightgown from the Vermont Country Store last year, she began to receive mail-order catalogs from National (their tagline: “Living the comfortable life since 1952″) and Woman Within. Struck by the models’ demure stances, she cut out certain images, before turning to her own fashion magazines and other periodicals. Last September, she asked Zosia Mamet to imitate the poses she had collected; the photographer Gus Powell shot. “Posturing” — inspired by the grids of the German artist Hans-Peter Feldmann, illustrated workouts and 1970s yoga manuals (hence the unitard) — is one of the many projects in “Women in Clothes,” out this fall. Edited by Sheila Heti, Heidi Julavits and Shapton, the book explores the issues women face when they get dressed. According to Shapton, the photo series evokes the energetic, experimental spirit of the publication, which features over 600 contributors. “We wanted the reader to do exercises,” Shapton said. “Exercises for the critical eye.”

See Zosia Mamet strike more poses in this stop-motion animation: