Red may not be such a good look for men, says a new study from Durham University in the UK.

When Durham researchers established men wearing red during sporting events promotes aggression and competitiveness within their team, they were curious to see if these effects persisted in more neutral settings. Researchers recruited 100 volunteers (50 men and 50 women) to view images of men they manipulated to make it seem each man was wearing a different colored shirt. Afterward, volunteers rated the images on a scale of one to seven for both aggression and dominance.

Additionally, volunteers rated the emotional state of the pictured men, choosing among angry, happy, frightened, and neutral. And the results showed wearing red made men appear more aggressive and angry compared to men wearing blue or gray. While men rated other men in red as more dominant, women did not. Researchers conclude this suggests “a clear association between the color red and perceptions of anger.”

Separate studies have shown men perceive women wearing red attractive, whereas women perceive other women in red as a threat. This may have been inherited from our ancestors, Rob Barton, the study’s lead author and professor of evolutionary anthropology at Durham, explained in a press release. When men turn red in the face during bouts of anger, it’s reminiscent of the way red signals anger and alert in animals; some animals even display the color to assert dominance over a female.

"The implications of our research are that people may wish to think carefully about wearing red in social situations and perhaps important meetings, such as job interviews,” said Diana Wiedemann, study co-author and a doctoral candidate in Durham’s department of anthropology. “Being perceived as aggressive or dominant may be an advantage in some circumstances but a disadvantage in others, for example where teamwork or trustworthiness is important."

Other types of clothes men wear can influence how others perceive them. The power suit, for example, has been shown to change the way people think. A study published in the Social Psychological & Personality Science found college students wearing formal clothes, including a power suit, influenced their cognitive processing. Formal clothes led to a significant increase in abstract thinking.

The power tie, too, influences a person's perception, Wiedemann said.

"We know that the color red has an effect on the human brain," she explained. "This is embedded in our culture. For example, the idea of wearing a red tie ... for business, or issuing a red alert."

Source: Barton R, et al. Biology Letters. 2015.