I’m wearing
A belted dress or skirt.
I’m thinking
I feel pretty, classically feminine and flirty. Nothing makes me feel more ladylike than a dress, especially the belted variety, which slims the waistline, enhances curviness and is currently in style. (Perhaps you noticed the big-belt trend if your girlfriend dragged you to Sex and the City.) There is an evolutionary explanation for waist-cinching (corsets in the nineteenth century, wraparound dresses in the Seventies): small waists appeal to men. Dr Maryanne Fisher, an assistant professor of psychology at Saint Mary’s University in Nova Scotia, Canada, says curviness, reflected in a woman’s waist-to-hip ratio (WHR), is somewhat dependent on oestrogen. It can show “fecundity, or basically her overall fertility,” she says.
Some research shows that a WHR of about 0.7 (picture Marilyn Monroe or Scarlett Johansson... okay, you can stop now) is the most universally appealing to men. “Males enjoy looking at these types of bodies because mating with females with such body types is more likely to produce viable offspring than it would with those who don’t,” says Dr Steven Platek, associate editor of Evolutionary Psychology. Psychologist Dr David Buss, author of The Evolution of Desire: Strategies of Human Mating, says that “belts and even colours and patterns can draw a man’s attention to a woman’s WHR, as well as give the appearance of a more pronounced WHR.” A navel piercing may be her way of calling attention to her flat tummy, he says.
Your move
Be a gentleman. When I’m dressed up in a dress, I feel different, a more mature kind of sexy than when I’m wearing, say, hot jeans or short shorts. Accordingly, I want to be wooed by a more mature kind of man. Old-school gestures are welcome: wrap your arm around my waist, hold a door, let me exit the elevator first. You’ll charm my pants off. Oh, right, I’m not wearing pants. How convenient. (Yes, we have this thought, too.)
