UK men hate high heels and flares on women, women dislike men in turtlenecks - report

By

Sandra Halliday

Published
Nov 2, 2018

Most people dress for themselves rather than for other people, but there’s no denying that the opinions of others do have an impact on what people buy, so it’s interesting to see a new report covering just what items young UK women and men dislike on the opposite sex.

And it’s surprising to see that both frequently get it wrong when it comes to what their significant other would want them to wear. The study, by online marketplace onBuy.com, is the result of a survey of almost 9,000 men and women aged between 21 and 28.

While 72% of men believe women don’t like cardigans, the most disliked menswear clothing items by women are actually turtlenecks (89%). In fact, cardigans don’t actually appear on the list of what women don’t like to see men wearing. 

But while the views of the genders do sometimes mesh (with both sexes seeming to dislike men wearing ripped clothing, excessive jewellery and lowrider jeans), there are plenty of areas where men are on the wrong track.

For a start, only 48% think women hate them in skinny jeans but the real figure is 81%. And many more women hate low-cut tops on men than men seem to think. But women are less averse to tracksuits than men believe.

And what about what women wear? Flared trousers are the most disliked female fashion trend according to men (87%). Animal prints, fur coats and oversized clothing are just some of the other female fashion trends disliked by them, but in the latter case, women think men hate baggy clothes more than they actually do.

Women think that fishnets are the top items men dislike and they’re mostly right as they do come high up the male hate list. But they get it completely wrong on over-knee boots with 77% of women thinking they’re disliked by men but these on-trend boots not even making it into men’s top 10 hated items list.

By contrast, 79% of men dislike very high heels while only 37% of women think they dislike them.