High Heels – The Newest Economic Tool?

high heels © by Markusram

Ladies, have you been ridiculed for your love of shoes? Well, guess what, your shoe purchases do have a purpose and an important one to boot! ( Sorry, about that pun; I couldn’t resist)  According to a social media survey conducted by IBM, women’s shoes indicate the health of the world economy. Okay, to be more specific, it is not the entire shoe, but the height of the heel.

According to the survey findings, it would appear that a higher heel represents a poor financial outlook while a shorter heel or flats signal that prosperity is on the way. How did geeky engineers from IBM, who wouldn’t know a pump from a slingback, find this out? The short and non- technical version of this discovery lies in their analysis of fashion trends in social media.  They looked at posts on fashion plus installed some type of filter or whatever computer people do to reach their conclusions.  You may scoff, but the highest heels walked the fashion runways between 2008-2009, which as we all know is when the economic crap hit the proverbial fan.

The question is why?  Why do heels indicate our economic health?  From a psychological point of view, the answer is simple .  Women look at shoes as an escape and high heels are the ultimate escape especially when they are dazzling and pretty. When women put on those heels, they exude a sense of fun and confidence — unless you are one of those women who have never learned to walk in high heels, and so for you, high heels are nothing short of torture especially when you fall off  them and break an ankle and are forced to wear nun shoes for the rest of your life. Yes, there are such things as nun shoes. When women sense stability and no need for escape, they tend to buy more sensible shoes.

Anyway, if anyone is interested, all the major designers, including Manolo Blahnik, Jimmy Choo and Christian Louboutin, have lowered their heels for the upcoming season. With the designers on board, you can bet your bottom dollar that all stores will be looking for that shorter shoe. Sure, high heels will always be in style, because we love them and they make us feel sexy, but smaller heels have moved to the front of the store shelves as have flats this year, which indicates that we all might be in the money very soon.

Isn’t it wonderful to now know that the fate of our economic livelihood lies in the hands of shoe designers?  So, to all the ladies — and men who like to wear women’s shoes — I say, “Kick off your heels and let the world know that an age of prosperity is right around the corner.”

http://www.csmonitor.com/Business/Latest-News-Wires/2011/1120/High-heels-the-new-economic-indicator

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4 thoughts on “High Heels – The Newest Economic Tool?”

  1. Doesn’t this run counter to the old hemline theory? As hemlines go up so do stocks if they do lower so do stocks. Not that I’m a fashion expert but don’t high heals usually go with short shirts? Or is that only in my dreams? 🙂

    1. well, Ted, I think you should send your question to IBM and maybe their engineers would like to delve into this one too. Very good question and I fear that your thoughts on short skirts and high heels is pretty common among men.

  2. I just don’t understand it. I’m conscious at least some of the time and worked this out on a calculator. Jill Y has 3,457 shoes and 2 feet. It doesn’t matter how you do the maths – there’s always going to be one shoe too many but according to her mathematically challenged self, she hasn’t got enough shoes!

    1. How do you not get this? There can never be enough shoes. EVER! They are not only fashion statements but emotional crutches that make all the bad things of the world go away. 🙂

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