Highs and Lows: Heels and the Economy
Two things that you never thought were related: high heels and the global economy. But as it turns out, they may actually go hand-in-hand.
Fashion has been a reflection of global events for centuries. From the creation of blue jeans in response to the demand for durable working pants to high-top shoes for ankle support in basketball, it seems as though a new fashion trend could always help solve everyday problems (InsideScience).
High heels were originally created in the 10th century to help Persian cavalry keep their shoes in their stirrups. They became popular with men in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, before undergoing a demographic shift to women in the nineteenth century. Heels have since become a cultural staple, often used as a symbol of power, status, and style. Characters like Carrie Bradshaw from Sex and the City (1998) or Miranda Priestly from The Devil Wears Prada (2006) have become synonymous with iconic shoe trends and brands. But there’s one thing about high heels that has remained relatively unknown: their relationship to the economy.
Studies have shown that when the economy goes down, heels get higher. George Taylor first examined this correlation in the 1920s through his “Hemline Theory.” He argued that fashion was directly correlated with the state of the economy. In fact, during the Great Depression, the oil crisis of the 1970s, and the 2008 economic recession, there was a rise in the popularity of sky-scraper heels, peaking at a median of seven inches in 2009 (New York Post). An article by Carole Owens stated that in George Taylor’s time (1920's) when the economy was good, “women wore short skirts to show off their silk stockings,” but when the market went down, they “lengthened their skirts to hide the fact that they weren’t wearing stockings; a luxury they could no longer afford” (Berkshire Eagle). There have been many attempts to explain the relationship between heels and the economy. According to consumer product expert Trevor Davis, “Usually, in an economic downturn, heels go up and stay up — as consumers turn to a more flamboyant fashion as a means of fantasy” (Huffington Post). Scholars and professionals speculate that this correlation is due to an increase in people attempting to feign wealth or escape reality.
Many debate whether the correlation is significant at all. In an article for the New York Times in 2011, Saks Fifth’s senior fashion director Colleen Sherin said, “I know that people like to take an economic read from heel heights, skirt lengths and selling red lipsticks, but it is just the cycle of fashion.” She explains that although higher heels do seem to come in style during economic recessions, so do flats and other types of shoes. Valerie Steele, the curator at the F.I.T museum, supports her claim, saying, “You can have absolutely vertiginous heels and, at the same time, sell billions of ballet flats.” Economists and fashion experts alike have been trying to come to a factual conclusion about this relationship.
Whether you believe in the fashion-economy relationship or not, one thing is for certain: heels are going up. The COVID-19 pandemic forced us into the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression just as the Valentino and Jessica Simpson Spring 2021 collections featured shoes with heels measuring upwards of four inches. However, with an increase in vaccinations and a few more months of social distancing, let’s hope we’ll be wearing kitten heels very soon.
SOURCES:
