Valentine’s Day is the most romantic day of the year – research has found that more dates take place on February 14 than any other day of the year.
In fact, dating site Hinge has revealed that 35% more dates are arranged on this day compared to any other day.
Valentine’s Day is also peak dating season on Tinder as the platform witnesses a whopping 11.4 million more messages sent from the start of January up to February 14.
And while the day itself can prove to be a stressful event for many, new research has also found that certain fashion choices can sabotage your Valentine’s date.
A study conducted by BestBettingSites.com has uncovered the biggest fashion faux pas you should avoid this Valentine’s in order to boost the likelihood of a successful date.
Some of the key findings was that around one in three people will turn down a second date due to fashion disparities.
In addition, wearing a full tracksuit was discovered to be the biggest fashion red flag on first dates, followed by full designer outfits and Crocs.
The study also revealed that one in nine people deem bad fashion sense a non-negotiable deal-breaker when seeking a partner and that most Gen Zs can’t tolerate a partner with opposing fashion habits, whereas millennials tend to be more laid-back.
Apart from full athleisure attire and head-to-toe designer outfits, the BestBettingSites.com research revealed that wearing Crocs on a Valentine’s date was regarded by its 3 000 participants as the third highest fashion red flag.
This was followed by oversized sunglasses, large logos, too tight shirts and tops and high socks with low trainers.
In addition, ripped skinny jeans, roll-neck tops and flared pants rounded off the top 10 of fashion faux pas that people can make on Valentine’s Day.
And when it comes to which fashion trends should be avoided on a Valentine’s date, maximalist ranked first, followed by streetwear, grunge, athleisure and then bohemian.
In addition, when the study’s participants were asked how important their current or hypothetical partner’s taste in fashion is, 30% said that they don’t notice fashion sense, whether good or bad; 24.8% regarded it as fairly important; 19.4% said “it’s a little important”; 14.2% believes “it’s not important at all” and 11.6% said it’s a “deal-breaker”.
“While you might breathe a sigh of relief realising the majority of respondents don’t care about how their partners dress, trailing closely behind are another 24.8% who consider their partner’s fashion sense to be fairly important,” researchers explained.
They added that among those surveyed, most millennials are found to be pretty lax about date-night attire standards, deeming it’s not important at all, while most Gen Zs emphasised that poor style is a significant turn-off that they can’t overlook.
The researchers also added that when asked about the relationship between one’s fashion and perceived compatibility, a shocking 30.9% of respondents agree that “your wardrobe alone can make you immediately unattractive, even if you both laugh at the same jokes or are both allergic to peanuts”.