A study published in the journal PLOS ONE shows that women are more likely to choose red clothes if they expect to communicate with men. All in order to increase their attractiveness. But, as usual, there are nuances.
Since ancient times, red has been considered a symbol of love, lust, sexuality and passion. Given the available scientific literature on the relationship of red with romance, scientists have formulated two hypotheses.
One hypothesispredicts that women are more likely to wear red when expecting to meet a very attractive man. Another hypothesispredicts that women prefer red clothing on the most fertile days of their menstrual cycle.
A total of 281 premenopausal women under the age of 50 were included in the study. None of the participants were pregnant during the study period.
One group of participants was emailed a photo of an attractive man, and the other group was emailed a photo of a man of average attractiveness. Participants also received all instructions and information about meetings with these men by mail. The information provided by the participant about the menstrual cycle was used to estimate the timing of fertility. During the session, each participant's preference for wearing red was assessed, as well as the degree to which they wore red («how much» and «how obvious»).
Analysis of women with a normal cycle showed that about 73% of participants menstrual phases with high fertility expected to meet a very attractive man in red. In contrast, only 37% of participants in the low-fertile phase of the cycle wore red when expecting to meet an attractive man. At the same time, analysis of the degree of wearing red showed that participants who expected to meet an attractive man wore significantly more red.
However, the observed effect of fertility on color preference disappeared when the analysis was adjusted for the participant's age, status relationships and current weather.