Photo: Getty
These outfits get a guy's attention in the very best ways.
By Elizabeth Z Pardue — Written on Mar 02, 2022
It’s pretty annoying, to say the least, when magazines try to make women feel like they should tailor their bodies, language, or wardrobes to suit a man’s preferences, let alone when the ideas they offer are based on what the fashion industry wants you to buy rather than on what guys actually love seeing you wear.
Articles telling you that guys standing around wagging their tongues over whatever the latest trend happens to be are just profiting off the idea that getting you to feel like you aren’t good enough to be loved as you are and in whatever outfits make you feel most comfortable will sell both magazines and clothes.
We firmly believe that men and women alike should wear whatever makes them look and feel their best.
But at the same time, if what makes you feel your best is choosing outfits you know will make a man you love or have your eye on want you — hey, you go, girl.
What should you wear today, tomorrow, or any time at all if you want to make him want you?
In an attempt to get to the real truth about what men want to see women wear vs. what the fashion industry wants us to spend money on, we asked a diverse group of men to tell us about the most amazing, beautiful, enticing thing they’d ever seen a woman wear in real life.
Their answers were both comforting and illuminating and prove that, most of the time, all you need to do is wear what makes you feel good.
If you're wondering what to wear, here are 11 simple outfit ideas based on what guys say is mostly likely to make him want you bad.
1. Anything that exposes your lower back
"She had a sarong tied around her neck, covering up her front, but it gaped open in the back, showing off everything from her shoulders down to her ... I don’t know what to call it. Butt cleavage? It was mesmerizing but so casually glamorous. I was unable to think clearly the whole time she was around, even when she was 40 feet away."
2. His old t-shirt
"I actually realized I was in love with a girl just because she was standing in my bathroom wearing one of my beat-up, old t-shirts and nothing else."
3. A pair of jeans that fit you just right
"This sounds boring, but when my girlfriend showed up to our second date in jeans, it was a serious turn-on. I’d only seen her really dressed up in skirts, but the jeans seemed like I’d made it to the next level where we could be comfortable together. Like she was okay to get a little dirty and was down for whatever. And her butt looked great in them."
4. A sweater dress
"I turn into a full-on creep around a girl in a sweater dress. I just wanna touch it and cuddle with her and it looks so soft and warm and filled with curves. This one girl in my office wore one with boots that came up past her knees and there were maybe three inches of visible thigh skin between the boots and the bottom of the skirt, and I just about went insane. That was a rough day for my focus."
5. A wedding dress
"The dress looked amazing, sure, but it was when I saw her that it hit me: We’re really doing this. She’s promising me her forever. This gorgeous woman is dressed like this to get married to me! How did this happen? I was overcome with emotion, to say the least. Yeah, I was 'that guy' who was bawling all the sudden."
Yeah, you may not want to break your wedding dress out of the box and you definitely don't want to buy one if you two aren't married (yet), but a wimple white sundress never ever goes out of style.
6. Fire poi
"The most enticing look I’ve ever seen would definitely be nothing but a set of fire poi. One of my fire-spinning friends stripped and went and spun fire in ankle deep water at sunrise last time we all went camping. It was one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever seen."
OK, we get this one may not be practical or even possible, but a cute tee decorated with flames could certainly do the trick.
7. An oversized sweatshirt or hoodie
"My girl wore one the other day and looked cuter than a box of puppies."
8. A classic little black dress
"We had an office holiday party and one of our coworkers showed up in a simple black dress and blew everyone’s mind. She looked really great in it, but here’s the thing: It was just a plain, black dress made out of like ... t-shirt material. It wasn’t even clingy or super-short or anything. But she’s always showed up to work in really utilitarian-style clothes that we all were amazed she even had a dress in her closet. It was nice to see she had another side."
Photo: ESB Professional / shutterstock
9. A one-piece bathing suit
"My wife had been so self-aware for months and months after we’d had our son, even though I kept telling her she was beautiful to me. We were at the beach almost a year later, and she put on a bathing suit and it made me so happy to see — not because her body was bangin’ or whatever, but because she looked so relaxed and okay with herself again. It was a nice enough one-piece that she’d had for years, but that day it felt special. She just seemed so happy in her body again and it was beautiful."
10. Tops or blouses that expose your shoulders and collarbone
"Not the shirts with the holes cut out of the shoulders, but the ones where the neck part looks like it’s stretched out and shows off the shoulders and the collarbone ... whatever those are called. Those are just gorgeous. This girl I have a crush on was wearing one next to me last week and I was so awkward around her even though we’ve been cool for forever now."
Photo: Ranta Images / Shutterstock
11. Boho chic, or whatever your version of "goddess" attire might be
"I saw this goddess at a festival once wearing a strappy bodysuit thingie that was sort of industrial and goth (but I couldn’t see anything and I wanted to), with no pants and this elaborate, black, horned headdress ... and plain, black Chuck Taylors. It was amazing. I should’ve married her."
Photo: Zolotarevs / Shutterstock
12. A sleeveless, backless top
"I'm dating myself with this but the girl I lost my virginity to was wearing a shiny backless no-sleeve top, a pair of black pants with the zipper on the back, and high heels. Something about all of those things went together in an incredible way — it felt like she was almost showing off more of her body in that outfit than when we were naked. For some reason, this gave me a lifelong appreciation of side cleavage and I've gotten on board with the summertime trend of sleeveless tees slit down the side."
Photo: Hank Shiffman / Shutterstock
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Liz Pardue-Schultz is a writer, mental health advocate/activist, and sometimes-model based in North Carolina.