Lingerie Color & perceived physical & sexual attractiveness, trustworthiness, nurturance, femininity, dominance, healthiness, social competence, affectionateness, intelligence, mate potential, parenting ability

A Choice of Color: Does Lingerie Color Affect Perceived Attractiveness and Evolutionary Fitness? Samantha Luzietti, B.A. & T. Joel Wade. EvoS Journal: The Journal of the Evolutionary Studies Consortium. 2020, NEEPS XIII, pp. 57-67. https://evostudies.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Luzietti-Wade_Vol11SpIss1.pdf

ABSTRACT: Prior research examining the effect of color on perceived attractiveness is equivocal.
Also, no research has examined how the color of lingerie affects perceptions. This research explored the effect of the color of lingerie that a woman was wearing on individuals’ perceptions of her attractiveness and evolutionary fitness. Three colors of lingerie were used in this study: Black lingerie, Red lingerie, and White lingerie. These images were presented to 72 men and 82 women. Participants rated the woman’s perceived physical attractiveness, sexual attractiveness, trustworthiness, nurturance, masculinity, femininity, dominance, healthiness, enthusiasm, social competence, affectionateness, intelligence, short term mate potential, long term mate potential, parenting ability, success, status, and age. It was hypothesized that the woman in white lingerie would be rated as most attractive and most evolutionarily fit. The results were partially consistent with the hypothesis. Lingerie color did not affect perceived attractiveness. But, the woman in white lingerie was rated as friendliest, most successful, best mate, and healthiest.

KEYWORDS: Lingerie, Color, Lace, Beauty, Attraction

Every day people make assumptions about each other based solely upon clothing alone. Whether you are on a first date with a person you do not know well, or moving into a new apartment building and introducing yourself to your new roommate, people are constantly making assumptions about others based on what they are wearing (see, Bowman & Lavater, 1992; Freeman, Penner, Saperstein, Scheutz, & Ambady, 2011, Kwon, & Johnson-Hillery, 1998). While the effect of outerwear color on people’s perceptions of others has been studied, the effect of underwear color has not. In today’s fast paced dating world, the initial attractiveness of an individual is very important (Etcoff, 2011).

The research on the color of an individual’s outerwear is varied. Caro (2005), Elliot and Niesta (2008) and Nunn (1999) point out that the color red enhances a male’s attraction to females in numerous non-human primate species. Exploring how there are parallel effects regarding the color red in humans, a number of researchers report that the color red enhances perceptions of women’s attractiveness, sexual receptiveness, and sexual intent (Elliot & Niesta, 2008; Elliot, Tracy, Pazda, & Beall, 2013; Guéguen, 2012; Guéguen & Jacob, 2013; Niesta, Kayser, Elliot, & Feltman, 2010; Pazda, Elliot, & Greitemeyer, 2012, 2014; Pazda, Prokop, & Elliot, 2014; Roberts, Owen, & Havlicek, 2010; Young, 2015). Red color is said to mimic bodily and facial sexual signals that occur to attract mates (Morris, 1994). Thus, men and women execute an adaptation where they are more likely to wear red when they want to appear maximally attractive to potential mates (Elliot, Greitemeyer, & Pazda, 2012; Kramer & Mulgrew, 2018). But, is red the only color individual’s wear when they want to attract others?

Kramer and Mulgrew (2018) report that people also wear more black clothing when trying to appear more attractive. Pazda, et al., (2014) report that black clothing affects attractiveness via fashionableness. So, black clothing can also enhance attractiveness. Are there other clothing colors that may also enhance attractiveness?

White clothing may also enhance women’s attractiveness. One of the criteria men employ when judging women’s attractiveness is femininity (Wade, 2000, 2003). Feinman and Gill (1978) report that men associate white colors with femininity and purity. So, it is possible that white colored clothing may also enhance women’s attractiveness. However, research has not examined the effect of white colored clothing on women’s attractiveness. Additionally, while the aforementioned research shows that red, and black clothing can enhance women’s attractiveness, that research has focused exclusively on outer clothing. To date no research has examined whether or not the aforementioned color effects also occur for perceptions of women wearing lingerie. The present research examined the perceived attractiveness and evolutionary fitness of a woman wearing black lingerie, red lingerie, or white lingerie.