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Everyone who is free to choose what they wear for work will recognize this scenario. Minutes spent staring into your wardrobe every morning. How much time do we spend selecting our workwear? How long does it take to choose an outfit for work? This has been researched….
Photo: Pixabay
Age plays an important role
In 2018 Robert Half, a job placement agency based in the states, surveyed 1600 people about their choice of clothes for the workplace. One of the questions was the amount of time they spend each morning on choosing their outfit for the day. The result: it depends on the gender and age of the person.
Respondents between 18 and 34 years of age spend on average 13 minutes per morning picking out an outfit. People aged between 35 and 54 take on average 10 minutes. Once you reach 55 years of age the number of minutes drops to just 7.
Make sense to me. As you get older it is easier to judge what is most appropriate to wear. Even more important you know yourself. You know what styles work for you, what doesn’t and how you feel in different outfits.
Men versus Women
What stands out for me in this survey is the striking difference between men and women. In general, women spend 9 minutes choosing their outfit while men take a bit longer at 12 minutes.
I had not expected this result. The stereotype is, of course, women being indecisive when it comes to picking an outfit. A wardrobe full of clothes and nothing to wear. So it this a myth?
Different approach to clothes
It’s a pity the researchers did not dive deeper into the reason men take longer choosing their outfit for the day. I think the reason is the difference in how men’s and women’s brains work. Women often have a lot of different thoughts running through their brain at the same time, while men generally focus on one thing at a time. Note: I am saying generally. Of course there are always exceptions.
With this in mind, I think women have decided on what they will wear before they get anywhere near their wardrobe. I know when I have an important appointment I am planning what to wear while in the shower. Sometimes I have it all planned out the day before.
I also know plenty of women who lay their clothes out the evening before and plenty of men who only start thinking about what they will wear when they open the wardrobe. I see it myself, when myself and my husband are heading out for a night and I ask him in advance what he is going to wear, he had no idea as he has not given it any thought. Even for his best friend’s wedding, it was stated on the invitation that men should wear a royal blue tie and that was the only part of his outfit he had planned.
Anyway, these are only my thoughts on the topic. What do you think? I would love to hear your ideas about why men take longer in the morning choosing their outfit.
Greetings,
Aileen
It is great blog post. I like it. Thanks for sharing it with us.