Remember that episode of Sex and The City where Carrie gets all nervous about her date with Jack Berger so she buys a whole bunch of (returnable) dresses to impress him? Well that was all bullshit, because apparently girls put twice as much effort into nights out with their friends then they ever do for dates. Soz Carrie.
According to new research, a third of us will fork out for a new outfit and spend, on average, 50 minutes getting ready for a night out with our girl mates. But our prep spending and time for dates is much more modest, with only one in five of bothering to do the same for a potential love interest.
The findings kind of make sense to us, because date dressing is easy isn’t it? Everyone’s got their fail-safe outfit that’s kind of chilled and unassuming but also makes us feel really hot, haven't they? That dress that makes us feel ‘super confident’, or whatever. Classic date fodder. And it doesn’t matter if you’ve wheeled out the same, tried and tested outfit a million times before because (especially if it’s a first date and as long as you’re not shagging your mate) chances are the guy hasn’t seen you in it already. Easy peasy.
But our mates see us all the time, so we’ve got to make a bit more of an effort with them, haven’t we? There’s been a lot made about women dressing up for girls not for guys, which we’re not 100% sure we buy, but it is always quite nice when a girl mate compliments your outfit because a.) we all know each other’s wardrobes inside out so it’s nice when they notice something new and b.) you know they’re saying it without any vested-interest [read: wanting to get into your knickers].
But is it just girls, or do guys put as much effort into seeing their mates? A quick (totally non-scientific) straw poll of our Facebook accounts confirmed that they do, with one guy summing it up succinctly: ‘why would I bother buying something new for someone I probs won’t see again?’ Nawww, that’s so romantic!
Slightly more weirdly though, according to the reach by Mecca Bingo nearly twice as many of us shave or wax our legs before going out on a girls night (40%) than do for a date - which seems telling...
Follow Sophie on Twitter @sophiecullinane
Photograph: Rory DCS
This article originally appeared on The Debrief.