When most of us go out on the town, we dress to entice. We can spend ages selecting the perfect outfit to express ourselves. Ultimately we end up with something stylish, sexy, and well-fitting.
From a young age, we're taught to dress in a way that makes ourselves look more attractive. In fact, that's the purpose of clothes, isn't it? Not just to keep us covered, not just to keep us warm, but to enhance our best features and make us look more appealing to men.
For years, I believed that only three choices were available to me: dress comfortably, dress professionally, or dress sexy. I dressed comfortably at home. I dressed professionally at work. And when I went out, I dressed sexy.
It wasn't until I began to research the male pickup artist scene for a seminar talk that I realized I was missing out entirely on another category.
Dress to be noticed.
This isn't the same as dressing sexy. Men will notice and feel attracted to a woman who enhances her curves and femininity with the right clothes. But they will also notice women who play into different fantasies.
Women who dress goth.
Women who dress like prim and proper librarians.
Women who dress like schoolgirls.
Women who dress in Victorian gowns.
Not normal daywear, right? But that's precisely the reason it stands out.
In the male pickup community, a pickup artist named Mystery [1] pioneered a concept called peacocking. Just as a male peacock attracts attention by its garish fan of luminescent feathers, so a pickup artist will dress in garish, even tacky fashions to draw attention. Think of platform boots, wigs, fake noserings, leather pants, gaudy shirts. Think rock star fashion.
It's amazing how many people assume that a man wearing such outrageous fashions must be famous. At the very least, people are intrigued. They want to know more about him. And that's one way the pickup artist attracts so many women. Women are fascinated by the individual who's not dressed like everyone else in the club.
When I first heard the concept, I was stunned. So it's not about being attractive? The most important thing isn't looking good?
Peacocking works for men. It's been proven by pickup artists around the world. The real question for me was: would it work for women?
So I put it to the test.
I bought a pair of handcuffs and some knee-high black boots. The first day, I pulled my hair back in a tight ponytail and wore the black boots, a pin-striped miniskirt, a black turtleneck, and the handcuffs clipped on the belt loops so that they'd dangle on my hip.
I got stared at.
I don't think I've ever been checked out that much in one day.
The next day, I wore skinny jeans tucked into the boots with a tight black t-shirt and the handcuffs again clipped on the belt loops.
Fewer stares, but more than a few comments in the hallways of my office building.
Does peacocking work for women? From my brief experiment, it seems that it might.
Would you help me test this theory? Try going out one weekend in something that you'd ordinarily never think of wearing. Think of it like wearing a costume. Try tight tank tops with camouflage trousers, or horn-rimmed glasses with a figure-revealing turtleneck and hair in a bun. Pick a male fantasy and play into it. Be fun and playful, and see what happens.
It might just start a trend.