Continuity mistake: When Vivian is eating dinner and the snail "flies" away from her, it goes to the far right of the screen disappearing. Then in the next shot the waiter catches it, but it flew too far to the right for him to catch it.
Continuity mistake: When Edward and Vivian kiss for the first time, her white nightgown goes from being long to being short.
Continuity mistake: In the screen where Vivian has been on the shopping spree, she returns to the hotel wearing the cream colored dress and a black hat. When she walks into the hotel, her black purse is under one arm. Then they show a behind shot of her walking away and the purse is under the other arm.
Answer: As the other answer indicated, it was part of her cheap hooker persona, but it also makes a greater impact on the audience when they see Vivian undergo her "transformation" with the classy designer clothes, toned-down make-up, and her own nicely-styled hair.
raywest