Want to buy sexy clothes? It may be your hormones

FLICKING through the clothes racks at the shops, many of us tend to pick the same styles that already fill our wardrobes. But every now and then we buy something a little more daring than we’d usually wear.

Now a study claims that, for women at least, hormones could be behind it.

Australian scientists found women are more tempted to buy sexier clothing when they are at their most fertile – as, consciously or not, they will be ‘more sexually motivated and interested in attracting mates’. They claimed interest

in daring clothes peaks during the ‘fertile window’ – a six-day period in a woman’s menstrual cycle around ovulation when she is able to conceive.

Lead author Dr Khandis Blake, a research associate in biological sciences at the University of New South Wales, said: ‘Clothing can be used to gain attention from desired men, to intimidate rival women, and to elevate feelings of confidence and assertiveness. Because [the fertile window] is the only time a woman can conceive, it makes sense this is the time a woman is most interested in attracting potential suitors and intimidating sexual rivals – even if she is completely unconscious of doing so.’

The team studied 98 women aged 18 to 36, comparing their interest in clothes

during their fertile window – which they worked out by looking at hormones, as they said low progesterone levels and high estradiol are markers for peak fertility – and at other points in their cycle.

They were shown ten outfits, where the ‘sexier’ ones were tighter or showed more skin. When the women rated the clothes by how much they would be willing to pay for them, raunchier outfits were more popular during the fertile window.

The study, published in the journal Psychoneuroendocrinology, also found women were more assertive at their most fertile, which the team said could help make them better at choosing a partner.