Red Dress Effect

The red dress effect, also called the red-attraction effect or romantic red effect, is the claim that people perceive others as more physically attractive, sexually desirable or romantically appealing when they are shown wearing or surrounded by the color red rather than another color, an influence researchers describe as operating below conscious awareness since people rarely report using color in their attractiveness judgments. Researchers including Adam Pazda, Andrew Elliot and Lisa Nesta at the University of Rochester have published supporting studies, and proposed explanations range from an evolutionary account, in which red coloration signals fertility in some primate species, to a cultural account rooted in red's long association with romance and sexuality. The overall evidence remains genuinely mixed and contested: some studies report that people wearing red are rated more attractive, while other, larger studies have failed to find any such effect, and reviewers have specifically flagged the quality of the existing research as a limitation on how confidently the effect can be accepted.