I had planned an outfit for this morning. A basic sweater, work pants. A pair of flats to be determined by the weather. Nothing fancy.

And yet, I ended up at work wearing a fine mesh turtleneck with roses all over it and strappy leopard print flats. Plus a cardigan.

You see, the rational part of my brain thought I was making a valid decision. The pants were tight, and so was the sweater, so we needed to swap one of those pieces out for something looser. Like a cardigan. Which naturally needs something to be worn under it and since we can’t wear the top we wore yesterday, let’s go with this floral top, and ooh look right here is a tank to throw underneath to make it work appropriate.

So I ended up at work wearing 1. something sheer that also happens to be a 2. large, romantic floral, with 3. “sexy” leopard print shoes. Also earrings, which are usually the first thing I skip when I’m tired.

All hallmarks of a sexy outfit, adjusted for work.

I suspect what actually happened was that my hormones hijacked my clothing for their own purposes.

It is documented that a woman’s menstrual cycle can impact everything from what she wears to what type of man she’s attracted to. For instance, there’s a study that shows that women wear fewer and more feminine clothes (ie, show more skin) when they’re ovulating. Lots of hormones swimming around.

I would extrapolate that because of the fluctuating nature of the female cycle, many behavioral tendencies are tethered thereupon.

In my own n=1 observations, for instance, everything goes crazy right before my menstrual cycle begins–the rage instinct, sex drive, everything is all jumbled up clouding my judgement.

And influencing me to wear sexy clothes to work.

Spoiler alert: I’m menstruating today.

I’ve noticed this pattern for a while–that I tend to dress up on day 1 of the cycle–but I always chalked it up to overcompensation for being tired.

Today, though, I realized that it wasn’t just overcompensation–it was peacocking.

 

How about you–do you pay attention to what you wear when? Have your hormones ever goaded you into wearing something crazy?