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[b]Women spend three years of their life dressing up to go out. Quite right, says Bryony Gordon, getting ready is often better than the event itself[/b]

t's one of the world's great mysteries, as puzzling as the possible existence of intelligent life on other planets and the whereabouts of Lord Lucan. Why exactly does it take women so long to get ready for a night out?

Yesterday, it was revealed that the average female spends three years getting ready to leave the house. That's three years during their whole lifetimes, not just for one dinner party - though many men will feel as if they have, at times, been left waiting that long.

Research found that the average woman took one hour and 12 minutes to prepare herself for a big night out - that's 22 minutes showering and removing unwanted hair, seven minutes applying moisturiser and fake tan, 23 minutes doing her hair, 14 minutes applying make-up, and six minutes putting her clothes on.

On top of that, the typical woman spends another 40 minutes a day getting ready for work, and three months of her life choosing handbags and the ideal pair of shoes to wear.

It's an especially pertinent issue as the Christmas party season begins. For a big night out, I usually start getting ready two hours before it is time to leave, though I have been known to start gearing up for an event as soon as I get up.

Many men have wondered, quite vocally, why I need so long and why I am such a cliché. Once, as I put on yet another layer of smoky eyeshadow, a boyfriend sneered that he was sure I'd look exactly the same if I took 10 minutes getting ready. Perhaps, but he was missing the point entirely.

Because for women, preparing to go out is not just about looking good; it is about feeling good, too. This isn't pure vanity. For many of us, the hours before a party are crucial: the precious few in the week that we don't share with irate colleagues, sweaty commuters, thoughtless spouses and screaming children.

For that reason, they are almost as important as the event itself. The burlesque artist Dita Von Teese insists on three hours, a glass of champagne and Billie Holliday in the background when she is dressing up.

"I think that if you squashed all the actual getting ready together, I would be done in about 15 minutes," says my friend Louise. "But dithering over outfits - and usually ending up in the first one I tried on - is just about the only time in the week that I get to myself. Getting ready is me time.

"Actually, I'd rather my husband just went to the dinner and left me behind in the bath."

Sally, a teacher, finds her boyfriend's exasperation over her pre-party rituals… well, exasperating. "I think, does it really matter if I take six hours getting ready as long as we are there on time? What exactly are men moaning about? The fact that we aren't lavishing attention on them? Besides, my boyfriend always realises he's lost his wallet or car keys just as we are about to leave.

"And then," she adds, with a weary sigh, "he always looks like ****. You think, crikey, could you not have spent just five minutes brushing your hair?"

Ah, yes. How many times have women descended the stairs, dressed up to the nines for a glamorous dinner party and discovered that their significant other's only preparation for the evening is to have shaved? The language of dress and its power to signal different things on different occasions is mostly lost on the average male.

A word of caution, however, comes from my friend Natasha, a 32-year-old television producer who has been married for six years.

"I used to feel lucky if my husband turned up at an event and wasn't covered in food stains," she says. "Eventually I had to say something because it was becoming embarrassing. So these days he takes longer than me getting ready - and always emerges looking better than me.

"I'm not joking when I say I'd do anything for his hair to look like a bird's nest and for him to moan at me for making us late."

Actually, with the bathroom as much a battlefield as the bedroom, wouldn't you rather just have a quiet night in?

source: the Telegraph

Is this a myth or is it really true?
How many of us have been late to an event?
Is it vanity or do we just like to take pride in our appearance?
Is it true to say that in the 21st century men take just as long (or even longer) getting ready as women do? [size=7]yep[/size] :twisted: