Women Who Wear This Color Have Immediate Power Over Men, According To Research
This color instinctively makes men want to date and spend money on you.
Osmar Vasques | Pexels Aside from wearing black when I'm bloated and white when I'm feeling clean, I'd rejected any bull-hooey theories that the color of my clothes means anything.
However, according to a study by two Rochester psychologists published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, it would behoove me to stock up on red when I've got a hot date (or would like one). Why?
According to research, women who wear the color red have immediate power over men.
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Men, they say, not only feel more attracted toward women when in red but are more likely to shell out extra money when with them.
To make it even sweeter, they are completely unaware of the color red and its bewitching effects. Trickery! (But don't let it get out.)
Dr. Lucy Brown, PhD & the late biological anthropologist Dr. Helen Fisher explained, "Red is a cheat code to getting a man's undivided attention. If you want to up your odds of being noticed without drawing too much attention, opt to wear something red. For reasons that are not yet clear, studies consistently show that when the same woman wears red versus a different color, men are more inclined to engage her in deeper conversations. This is true even when the clothing styles are otherwise identical."
When given a series of female faces, men consistently found the ones wearing red or in a red-outlined frame more attractive and thus worth a larger slice of the $100 psychologists allotted for an imaginary date.
Slightly piggish, of course, women in red were never perceived any better in terms of likability, intelligence, or kindness. The same gals in gray, blue, or green (although perfectly lovely) were not going to enjoy the nicer restaurant or cab ride home, quite like the lady in red.
On the one hand, this is surprising news. I have long thought the whole racy red cliché was just a hackneyed marketing scheme to get tight, crimson dresses off the racks. Red doesn't even flatter everyone's skin tone. I find my little black dress to be way more alluring than any ruddy article of clothing in my closet.
On the other hand, as the scientists point out, much of our red-hot reactions are conditioned from moment one.
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Red roses, red lips, Valentine's Day, and red-light districts have long played a role in attraction and romance. Red is only the enemy when under fluorescent lights and on the playing field. Red flags and red marks psych out competitors and test takers.
"The attraction to red is likely based on the color of blood, which is the easiest signal the body can produce to advertise fertility. And of course, when we look at the “survival of the species” perspective, fertility is the name of the game," explained therapist Kelly P. Crossing.
Crossing continued, "Just like animals, we respond to biological triggers that indicate it’s time to mate — color being one of the more important ones. Just think of the pictures of baboons you’ve seen with those red organs!"
So when it comes to attraction, bloodshot colors have got it made. Patterns in nature, like female baboons and chimpanzees who redden when ovulating, are helping inch science closer and closer to declaring red the most physically attractive shade of the rainbow.
Melissa Noble is a love & relationships writer and editor from New York. Her work has been featured across the web, as well as New York Magazine and OK! Magazine.
