Liberal Arts Blog — First Date Colors: Female (Red) And Male (Gray) — Agree? Disagree?
Liberal Arts Blog: Friday is the Joy of Art, Architecture, Design, Film, Fashion, and All Things Visual Day
Today’s Topic: First Date Colors: female (red) and male (gray) — agree? disagree?
You only have one chance to make a first impression. You don’t want to blow it. You want to play the odds. What color does the math say to wear? And by the way what is the math — does it take 7 seconds or one tenth of a second to make a first impression?
Is yellow the most off-putting, risky color not to be worn on a first date? Apparently, that’s what the numbers say. What has your experience been? Your observation? Is it best to stick to black and white? Or is the best choice for women red? and for men, gray? What, oh what, do the numbers say?
But before we go into this in a little more detail — a brief recap of recent art day posts for those new to the blog.
We ended 2023 with posts on English painter John Everett Millais (1829–1896) and Danish-French-Jewish painter Camille Pissarro (1830–1903). We began 2024 with Georges Seurat (1859 -1901) and Gustave Courbet (1819–1877). Then we jumped around a bit thematically from the film “Barbie” (2023) to a consideration of the images of five elephants (from Ganesh and Hannibal to Babar, the white and the pink) to images of marcescence, syzygy, and kairos. and, then the most important images with which to plaster the walls of schools, brains, and memory palaces eg. (eg. the Buddhist Wheel, Ulysses tied to the Mast, the hourglass, the skull, and the tulip, and, of course, Orion).
Then a three-part series on hats beginning with the now ubiquitous flat cap (aka newsboy cap, golf cap, Irish cap…..). Then, the fedora (think Indiana Jones, Humphrey Bogart), the cowboy hat (think the Marlboro Man and Little Nas) and the Easter Bonnet (think “Easter Parade” by Isaiah Berlin, Haley Mills, Judy Garland). Last week we moved to the Russian ushanka, the Canadian “toque” (beanie), and the Peruvian “Chullo.”
Eight weeks ago, the first in a series on dresses, we featured Gustav Klimt’s golden dress, Audrey Hepburn’s little black dress, Grace Kelly’s white wedding dress, and Julia Roberts’s red opera dress. Seven weeks ago, in part two, we considered style, length, tightness and the hemline as a stock market indicator. Six weeks ago, a post on bridges of Paris (Renoir), New York City (Joseph Stella), and Sydney, Australia (John Moore). Five weeks ago, the Chinese dragon, the only magical creature in the Chinese zodiac, and, allegedly, the ancestor of all other creatures. Four weeks ago, a walk through Harvard enjoying the charms of the Cordelian cherry, sweet gum burrs, and the flowers of the red maple. Three weeks ago, three portraits: of Mahatma Gandhi, Winston Churchill, and Nelso Mandela. Last week, three thin-shelled structures — the Chapel Lomas de Cuernavaca (Mexico), the City of Arts and Sciences (Valencia, Spain), and the Auditorio de Tenerife (Canary Islands).
Back to the topic of color and first dates.
Today, a few excerpts from a few articles related to what to wear on a first date. Are you aware of any more serious scientific data related to this fascinating topic? Have you conducted an experiment formally or informally yourself?
Parenthetically, does your attraction to a particular artist relate to that artist’s affinity for a particular color? Or conversely, does your dislike of a particular painter relate to that painter’s obsession with a specific hue? Say Philip Guston and the color pink?
Are Picasso’s blue paintings your faves or just too much blue?
Experts — please chime in. Correct, elaborate, elucidate.
“WEARING THIS COLOR MAKES YOU INSTANTLY LESS ATTRACTIVE, RESEARCH SHOWS”
1. “Next time you find yourself getting ready for a first date, make sure you don’t wear this color.”
2. “Who hasn’t found themselves standing in front of their closet in complete despair before a first date, convinced they have nothing suitable to wear? Those pre-meetup jitters are totally normal, and, of course, wearing what makes you most comfortable is the way to go. But the truth is, there surprisingly is a little science that can help you make your next date outfit choice; it turns out, you should consider holding off on putting on that mustard top.”
3. “According to research, wearing the color yellow can instantly make you less attractive to a prospective suitor.”
NB: “A 2013 poll from vouchercodespro.co.uk of 1,128 female and 1,232 male adults from across the UK sought to determine the best first date clothing choices. What they found was that both men and women find yellow to be among the least attractive color options: 39% of men and 31% of women said it was likely to be a sartorial put-off.”
“WHILST IT MAY WELL BE CONSIDERED FICKLE TO BASE THE ODDS OF A SECOND DATE WITH SOMEONE ON THE COLO THEY CHOOSE TO WEAR UPON AN INITIAL MEETING, THE FACT IS THAT WE MAKE OUR PRIMARY ASSESSMENTS OF POTENTIAL PARTNERS EXTREMELY QUICKLY”
1. “It is human nature to want to find faults and imperfections within these individuals in order to protect ourselves from hurt later down the road.”
2. Red is the color of “passion and love.” Yellow is the “color of friendship, not romance.”
3. Black is “sexy and elegant.”
GRAY FOR MEN? SERIOUSLY? (below a few numbers, for whatever they mean)
1. Top colors worn by men in relationships on first date: grey (24%), black (22%), Blue (16%), Green (8%), White (7%).
2. Top colors worn by women in relationships on first date: red (27%), blue (19%), Green (14%), Black (11%), Purple (8%).
3. “When asked if the color had any impact on how much they were attracted to them, 69% of men and 64% of women admitted that it did.”
NB: “When asked ‘if your current partner had been wearing a color that you didn’t like when you first saw them, do you think it would have put you off them?’ more than a third (38%) of women and a quarter (27%) of men said ‘yes’.”
“Furthermore, men voted yellow (39%) and brown (28%) as the colors most likely to put them off members of the opposite sex. Women revealed that a man wearing pink (38%) or yellow (31% would pout them off approaching a potential love interest.”
Any statisticians out there with more rigorous statistical analysis to share?
FOOTNOTE — favorite color in a painting? (below Mother and Child, Picasso, Fogg Art Museum, Wertheim room)
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2474864/Want-boyfriend-Wear-red-avoid-yellow-date.html
Wearing This Color Instantly Makes You Less Attractive, Research Shows
The Worst Colors to Wear on a First Date, According to Relationship Experts
Two Colors You Might Want to Avoid Wearing on First Dates
Colors You Shouldn’t Wear on a First Date — SwagHer Magazine
The Impact of the Color Yellow on Your Mood
This Is the Easiest Way to Make Yourself More Attractive, Study Says
QUOTE OF THE MONTH
“Make your own Bible. Select and collect all the words and sentences that in all your readings have been to you like the blast of a trumpet.”
- Ralph Waldo Emerson
My spin — then periodically review, re-rank, and exchange your list with those you love. I call this the “Orion Exchange” because seven is about as many as any human can digest at a time. Game?
LAST FOUR YEARS OF POSTS ORGANIZED THEMATICALLY
ATTACHMENTS BELOW:
#1 A graphic guide to justice (9 metaphors on one page).
#2 “39 Songs, Prayers, and Poems: the Keys to the Hearts of Seven Billion People” — Adams House Senior Common Room Presentation, (11/17/20)
NB: Palestine Orion (Decision) — let’s exchange Orions, let’s find Rumi’s field (“Beyond all ideas of right and wrong, there is a field. Meet me there” Rumi, 13 century Persian Sufi mystic)
YOUR TURN
Please share the coolest thing you learned recently or ever related to art, sculpture, design, architecture, film, or anything visual.
This is your chance to make some one else’s day. And to cement in your own memory something cool or important you might otherwise forget. Or to think more deeply than you otherwise would about something that is close to your heart.
