Well then you are a rare cat...and you may know that.
Most...I would say...the vast majority of consumers buy products based upon how they look. Function is almost secondary. Image matters more than performance. It is about the extension of the consumer's ego...what they want to project. A fred buys a Cervelo is a notable example. Cars are purchased almost exclusively on how they look. Boats, motorcycles...even skis...cerntainly jackets etc. Pretty much everything. Consumer physiology is based upon aesthetics which btw is somewhat linked to primal instinct aka sexual attraction and arousal. The shape of something related to the shape of a women for example.

Which begs the much larger morphology of the bicycle itself which ties more into how you feel RW. Has the modern bicycle become more beautiful? I would say absolutely not. It has become much more inelegant compared to narrow tubed bikes of 30 years ago. So in essence function has trumped form. A notable example is the picture of the Campy Record crankset compared to what I believe is a mud fence ugly Ultegra crank. Which one works better? There is no question...the Ultegra crank hands down.

And then lets take comfort or endurance geometry bikes and compare them to slammed racing bikes. I would be the first to admit that a slammed racing bike looks 'sexier'. Lower and sleeker. But I ride an endurance frame because my body feels a lot better after a century. So my decision is based upon what functions better for me. But comparing looks...a slammed bike looks better than a comfort bike and one of the principle reasons many flip their stems when they shouldn't.