Hormonal fluctuations associated with fertility are associated with a greater tendency for women to use conspicuous luxury symbols, potentially to be noticed by men, according to a study published September 2, 2026, in the open access journal PLOS One by Aekyoung Kim of Jeonbuk National University of the Republic of Korea, and colleagues.
Consumers spend billions of dollars each year on high-end goods such as designer clothes and accessories, jewelry, and luxury cars, often to signal wealth and prestige. Women account for nearly half of the spending on luxury goods and services, in part to communicate their status. Kim and colleagues examined whether, beyond seeking status, women engage in conspicuous luxury consumption to attract mates near ovulation, when estrogen levels increase and fertility is high.
The researchers predicted that women near ovulation are more likely to prefer luxury products (e.g., a designer bag or shoe) and display luxury in a conspicuous way, such as by wearing clothes with large logos that others will notice. To investigate this prediction, they conducted studies using urine samples to measure hormone levels and a survey method that estimated a woman's current phase in the menstrual cycle.
In the first study, 70 female university students who were not on hormonal contraception were asked to draw logos of luxury brands (e.g., Gucci, Chanel, and Louis Vuitton). The participants drew larger logos near ovulation compared with the low fertility phase of the cycle, supporting the idea that women prefer more conspicuous luxury during this time to help them be noticed by men.
In the second study, 1,486 women who were not taking hormonal contraceptives were asked about their purchase intentions for luxury and nonluxury brands. The results showed that ovulating women have an increased desire to purchase luxury consumed in public, but not in private. This indicates that the increased desire for luxury near ovulation occurs because conspicuous luxury may increase the chance that women will be noticed.
The third study, which included 966 participants, showed that women near ovulation were more likely to choose a $100 gift certificate from a luxury brand (e.g., Polo Ralph Lauren) over a nonluxury brand (e.g., Old Navy). However, when they read about research findings showing that men do not notice women's designer clothes, they were less likely to choose a luxury brand, even when they were near ovulation. These results provide further evidence that women who are near ovulation use conspicuous luxury consumption to be noticed by men.
As pointed out by the researchers, the studies were not designed to produce causal evidence, and the findings do not apply to every context in which women attempt to attract men. Despite these limitations, the overall evidence provides support for the idea that women's ovulatory cycle can influence their behavior toward men, especially with regard to using conspicuous luxury symbols to be noticed.
The authors add: "What we found most interesting is that the effect of ovulation on luxury desire is not simply a general increase in preference for expensive products. Rather, it appears to be socially strategic: the effect becomes stronger when luxury consumption is visible and personally relevant but disappears when women believe that men do not pay attention to such signals."
In your coverage, please use this URL to provide access to the freely available article in PLOS One: https://plos.io/4hQQ0Ia
Citation: Kim A, Durante KM, Laran J, Nikiforidis L, Griskevicius V (2026) Fertility increases women's desire for conspicuous luxury. PLoS One 21(9): e0354126. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0354126
Author countries: Republic of Korea, USA.
Funding: The author(s) received no specific funding for this work.
