White, green, purple or blue attire, the scientists say, are best for flying under the mosquito radar.
Researchers at the University of Washington conducted studies on female yellow fever mosquitoes — it is only the females that bite — and found a mosquito's choice of victim is intrinsically linked to its sense of smell.
This mosquito species is not common in the UK but is abundant in the US and elsewhere around the world, where it is a major vector of dengue, yellow fever, chikungunya and Zika.
Scientists trapped some of the mosquitoes in a sealed crate and exposed them to various smells and colours.
They found that, no matter what colours are nearby, they will not begin feasting unless they catch a whiff of carbon dioxide, such as is produced by human exhalation.
Once they detect the gas, they know a source of food is nearby. A switch is then activated in their brain, which tells them to be on the lookout for flesh and blood.
After entering this sense of fervour, the insects begin scouting for anything that resembles food - and the researchers found that only some colours fit the bill.
Red, for example, is like catnip for mosquitoes - a red rag to a bug. However, some colours go unnoticed because, even in this heightened sense of feeding, the insects simply do not view it as food.
Green, blue and purple were the colours most likely to fly under the mosquito radar, the scientists said.
Red was found to be the strongest attractor of mosquitoes, the authors found. This is likely because human flesh gives off red light.
'Filtering out' certain colours to avoid mosquitoes
"One of the most common questions I'm asked is: 'What can I do to stop mosquitoes from biting me?' " said Professor Jeffrey Riffell, senior author of the study and a professor of biology.
"I used to say there are three major cues that attract mosquitoes - your breath, your sweat and the temperature of your skin.
"In this study, we found a fourth cue - the colour red, which can not only be found on your clothes, but is also found in everyone's skin.
"The shade of your skin doesn't matter, we are all giving off a strong red signature. Filtering out those attractive colours in our skin, or wearing clothes that avoid those colours, could be another way to prevent a mosquito biting."
The study, published in Nature Communications, was done with coloured dots. They were then repeated with human skin tone pigmentation cards, or a researcher's bare hand.
Mosquitoes only flew towards the skin after CO2 was sprayed. When the scientists altered the genes of the lab insects, they found that those unable to smell carbon dioxide did not have a colour preference.
The bugs only have an appetite after detecting the gas, which is odourless to humans but not to mosquitoes.
It triggers the hunt for food, the scientists believe, in the same way as the smell of frying bacon, baking bread or fresh coffee makes people salivate and search for the source.
"Imagine you're on a sidewalk and you smell pie crust and cinnamon," said Riffell.
"That's probably a sign that there's a bakery nearby, and you might start looking around for it.
"Here, we started to learn what visual elements that mosquitoes are looking for after smelling their own version of a bakery."
