Women spend nearly a year of their lives deciding what to wear to parties

July 13, 2009

According to new research, Christmas parties, social get-togethers, office parties and dinner parties are all a major cause of stress - about what to wear.

The research was undertaken by clothing retailer Matalan, which found that women spend an average of 278 days of their lives thinking about what they are going to wear to special events.

Friday and Saturday nights on the town cause long decision-making processes for most women, according to Matalan, which polled 2,491 women to find the results.

They found that women spend an average of 16 minutes deciding what to wear on a weekday morning and 14 minutes deciding their outfit for a weekend day. Before hitting the town at the weekends, the average woman will spend 20 minutes choosing her outfit.

Matalan’s spokesperson said that women’s perception of image is very important to them, especially when attending a party or other social function, while work clothes are also very important. The spokesperson said, “what you wear has a direct impact on how you feel about yourself and it is important a woman feels exceptional in her outfit. Whatever the occasion, your clothes portray an image and we understand this is fundamentally important to women."

For Christmas parties and formal events, women spend an average of 36 minutes a time choosing what to wear.