Does the Economy ACTUALLY Affect High Heel Height? Shoe Historian Reacts

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You may have seen articles or videos making the rounds on this topic recently- such as ModernGurlz "how the economy affects the height of high heels"- and if you looked at them you may have also noticed they really don't give much supporting research. Rather than take IBM at their word I decided to dig into whether the economic drops really do cause heel height to raise! Examples are EVERYWHERE if we just look at advertisements, articles, and originals from the 20th century. And the answer? Well, it's not so simple as they'd like to say it is.
High heels go up and down throughout the 20th and 21st centuries, constantly fluctuating to accommodate activities and careers, fashion and silhouette, and even technical achievements (we can only go so high before we need metal rods in our heels). Women in the 1910s and 1940s needed practical shoes for wartime work, as did women entering the office world in the 1980s. But that doesn't mean we saw only low heeled shoes during those times! Fashion is constantly fluctuating and the overall silhouette, hem height, and aesthetic greatly affect the popular shoe styles.
In reality, the 1920s didn't have only short heels. The short "flapper" heel (even they used this term) was not commonly worn by all women and was only around for a couple of years. The height gradually rose throughout the decade and into the 1930s. Changes in heel shape meant that the higher heels looked even taller. At the beginning of the 1940s heels could often reach around 3" or more, but they were a stable, thicker heel shape. It wasn't until the 1950s that the heel thinned out to become the stiletto heel we know today. The height then began to drop as we transitioned to the 1960s and low, square heels became the popular mode. The 1970s had the return of the platform from the 1940s, but with much higher extremes. However, most women were wearing a variety of heel heights, clogs, and other practical styles during this time. They transitioned into the practical heel of the 1980s business woman, which began to rise in the 1990s. By the turn of the century, both high stiletto heels and platform shoes had returned. But does any of this actually match with economic turns?
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Sources:
🖼 IBM: www-03.ibm.com/press/us/en/pr...
🖼 Insook Ahn Study: koreascience.or.kr/article/JAK...
🖼 Summary (in English): lib.dr.iastate.edu/cgi/viewco...
🖼 US Recessions: mytradingskills.com/what-is-r...
🖼 Global Recessions: blogs.worldbank.org/opendata/...
🖼 1914 Shop: digitalcollections.nypl.org/i...
🖼 Bank Failure: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Ba...
🖼 1922 Shoe & Leather Reporter: www.google.com/books/edition/...
🖼 1920 Article Clip: www.google.com/books/edition/...
🖼 Eaton's Catalogue: archive.org/details/eatonscat...
🖼 1918 Sears, Roebuck & Co: archive.org/details/catalog19...
🖼 1922 Sears, Roebuck & Co: archive.org/details/SearsRoeb...
🖼 Nick DeWolf: nickdewolfarchive.tumblr.com/...
🖼 All other Sears, Roebuck & Co: christmas.musetechnical.com/
🎶Music via Epidemic Sound (www.epidemicsound.com)

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15 июн 2024

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Комментарии : 454

@AriallaMacAllister 3 года назад

These "fashion trends follow the economy" notions (heels, skirt length, beards) feels like a really good example of "correlation is not causation". Thanks for doing this little dive!

@Mae-ek9uo 3 года назад

Yeah, I was watching this thinking "this sounds like a perfect example of people not understanding that correlation does not equal causation.

@michellecornum5856 3 года назад

Agreed, I was thinking about the hem lengths conjecture and the economy. The economy goes down and so do the skirt lengths.

@hilltop-cloud 3 года назад

I was just about to post exactly the same thing! Hammered in to us as undergraduate scientists when it came to doing statistical analysis of data. In this case there's not even much of a correlation, so jumping to causation feels like one almighty stretch!

@sasp9856 3 года назад

There's also the "lipstick index"... which is very literally used as a marketing tactic to investors!

@katybeaumont 3 года назад

Definitely. Economies go up and down. You have a fashion, then a backlash, then it comes back again. Sometimes this ebbing and flowing may happen to line up with the economy.

@mackenziew 3 года назад

1. We love a data literacy moment. Correlation does not equal causation. 2. I love that I got an ad for Crocs for the midroll.

@Mae-ek9uo 3 года назад

I had to laugh because when she talked about what women were wearing right now/around the house I was like, "nothing at the moment, but usually crocs or my chacos around the house."

@trinamorrison2570 3 года назад

I'm sad that I did not get a crocs ad. I did get a Vans add though!

@elfieblue3175 3 года назад

I got an easy listening radio/streaming and a "car milk" ad. I think the algorithm is confused by my search history and subscription list.

@Kozickih 3 года назад

What on earth is "car milk" and what what are you watching to be the target demo? Lol

@ashleejones1690 3 года назад

I got an ad for YSL shoes 😅 Like, I do love a heel, but idk how the algorithm thinks I'm in that economic bracket! lol

@SusanIvanova2257 3 года назад

Quick reference comment for everyone else struggling to visualise inches: 1 in = 2.54 cm 2 in = 5.08 cm 3 in = 7.62 cm 4 in = 10.16 cm 5 in = 12.70 cm

@matontherocks 3 года назад

you're a legend! thanks!!

@expatpiskie 3 года назад

I always picture an inch as being approxiamately the length from the tip of my thumb to the knuckle.

@ptonpc 3 года назад

Thanks :)

@rosagray2897 3 года назад

Thank you!

@infamoussphere7228 3 года назад

I was lucky enough to have a tape measure right next to me (I'm knitting!) so I could look at the inch measurement and go "ohhh"

@judisutherland8051 3 года назад

In the 1980s in the UK, shoes tended to be completely flat. The sole reason (see what I did there) was Princess Diana, who was 5ft 10inches and didn’t want to appear taller than her husband.

@midorana2902 3 года назад

Reminded me of Lizzie from Black Butler

@anastasiamaliuha5481 3 года назад

What weirds me out about this theory in the first place is the Great Depression reference. High heels were neither affordable, nor practical. But can we acknowledge how mindblowingly gorgeous the shoes from 20s and 30s were?

@tayet6875 3 года назад

Yes! I have been searching for shoes of that heel hight and shape! I think they are very flattering and were beautifully designed

@chasewighton4064 3 года назад

@@tayet6875 The company that Nicole designs shoes for, American Duchess, makes historical and vintage inspired shoes from the 18th century through the 1940s and are really nice, good quality, and are a good range of sizes. I have such a hard time finding comfortable womens shoes because I have wide feet and am size 10/11 so I was hesitant about ordering online but my pair of American Duchess shoes fit so well. There's this one pair of green 1930s shoes that are sold out right now that I'm absolutely in love with that I really hope they decide to make another run of at some point.

@dianeghazaryan4773 3 года назад

@@chasewighton4064 but the shapes aren't like the ones shown here, rounded edges abd tips. their designs are more angular

@Adriana-vw3pv 3 года назад

theres also a danish brand called Memery who do shoes inspired by the first half of the 20th century. Theres a bunch of cute designs on their website but I don’t know how historically accurate they are

@archionblu 3 года назад

I absolutely LOVE this. I also love the emergence (in my youtube circles at least) of "Academically Salty About Something" videos as a genre. I know these kinds of videos are hard, since you're basically presenting us with a research paper, but thank you so much for doing it.

@mirjanbouma 3 года назад

Academically salty is going in my memory and I will use it as much as I can.

@elfieblue3175 3 года назад

I love the "academically salty" genre of video.

@FennecTheRabbit 3 года назад

YESSSS. These are like one of my fav things on the internet.

@moxiebombshell 3 года назад

just realized "academically salty" describes my youtube subscriptions AND my twitter follows... the podcasts I'm subscribed to, too, now that I think about it...

@thebookwyrmslair6757 3 года назад

YES! Nicole, Cheyney (Not Yo Momma's History), Abby Cox, Jessica Kellgren-Fozard, and Bernadette Banner are all EXCELLENT at this!! In the not-history realm, Lindsey Ellis (ESPECIALLY the Omegaverse two), Ask a Mortician, and NativLang are some of my other faves. Who am I missing?

@OofusTwillip 3 года назад

I watched this video two days ago. This morning I cited it to the editor of a major newspaper when one of its fashion columnists stated the myth as fact in her column.

@anna_mar 3 года назад

I mean, I'd be more willing to accept the argument that a better economy leads to lower heels, with more women being in work and therefore needing practical shoes, but even so it'd be a contributing factor at best.

@TheEconWoman 3 года назад

Speaking as a college economics instructor- this is an A+ report! I would comment that you have done an excellent job with your critical thinking skills. I wish I had a classroom full of Nicole’s! 🤗

@mirjanbouma 3 года назад

High praise! 👍🏻

@ThatLazyStray 3 года назад

I wish there were more kitten heels available currently. It's impossible to find shoes in a nice style with a low heel. It's either you break your neck or you wear flats.

@rinatail7248 3 года назад

As a U.S. citizen, I have to look overseas (online) for classy shoes with short heels, unless I want to the kind of shoes I wore private school

@biguattipoptropica 3 года назад

A lot of alternative fashion styles have more variety in heel height.

@mirjanbouma 3 года назад

I wish wedges were always available. I have difficult feet so heels are not very me-friendly, but I can do a sprint on wedges and a lass sometimes just wants a heel under her pretty clothes.

@JM-wt4bf 3 года назад

I found some nice ones in stores originally from east Asia

@laurahill9643 3 года назад

I just want comfy heels that don't make my back hurt to the point of tears.

@emilyglass6625 3 года назад

I’ve always liked learning about changing silhouettes in historical fashion, but one thing I never heard about until a few years ago and often still forget is how styles change due to innovations in clothing technology - materials, closures, production techniques... Gosh, I love learning more about these interconnections

@anna_in_aotearoa3166 Год назад

Two interesting but distressing examples of this intersection between technology, socioeconomic trends & fashion changes are how the use of slavery in the USA directly influenced the widespread use of cotton as a fashion fabric, and the popularity of sprigged cotton muslin when it became very cheap due to Britain's colonial exploitation of India. I really appreciate the way that Nicole always includes the sociological and social justice impacts & drivers of fashion in her videos, it provides so much valuable context? (Her Gonzo hat episode was an excellent example!)

@ModernGurlz 3 года назад

love learning more about this from someone who definitely has more knowledge on the subject than i do! really great and informative video 💕

@2480hanna 3 года назад

Yay for learning :D

@ivytn 3 года назад

i loved your video on this topic! i actually just came from it

@kat8559 3 года назад

From the perspective of a historian, your video was not good.

@kat8559 3 года назад

You used zero critical thinking skills or data literacy.

@kat8559 3 года назад

Perpetuating pop historical myths to get clicks. Perfect reason for educated people to stay away from your channel.

@daxxydog5777 3 года назад

What really irritated me when the super tall stiletto heels came out that the heels were the same height, whether they were a size 6 or a size 10. As a size 6, the degree of arch made it impossible for my feet to bend that far and still walk. Now I might wear a moderate wedge, but that’s it. I’m at the age that I want comfy feet!

@stevezytveld6585 3 года назад

Correlation is not causation. I remember hearing that purple is only in fashion during economic downturns. It's social anxiety about the future getting compressed into tropes that claim to read the coming economic trends. Like a fortune cookie. Without the fun of a cookie. For our '97 wedding the shortest heels I could find were 3 1/2" tall. I'm proud to say I got through the ceremony and the night without dying. - Cathy (&, accidently, Steve), Ottawa/Bytown

@debra333 3 года назад

During my lengthy history on this planet, I have seen heel heights rise and fall to, in my opinion, encourage the buying of new trends. Year to year, adjustments are made to be able to sell to the consumer a "new look" in footwear.

@dsch2000 3 года назад

That is definetely a more probable relation between economy and heel heights 😅

@ah5721 3 года назад

100%👏

@EH23831 3 года назад

Yep! And styles of jeans, colours, hem heights etc etc.... everything cycles

@thebookwyrmslair6757 3 года назад

And you can find everything from flats to sky-high at the store - and have been able to since I've been a teen in the late 90s.

@joymattice837 3 года назад

In the 90's, I heard the same theory, but referencing skirt length. I vaguely remember an Economics professor scoffing at it, and looking for the real data.

@ragnkja 3 года назад

The only likely link between the state of the economy and the length _and fullness_ of skirts would be how much average people could afford to buy.

@delicateghoul 3 года назад

I would think skirt length is more closer tied to sociopolitical climates than economy, specifically correlated to each wave of the feminist movement. But that's just my theory, I'm not too interested in doing any specific research in that area

@Butterflier00 3 года назад

my dad said that today.... and I was like....hemlines went up in the 20s and stayed about the same until the 60s....with the mini skirt....

@ah5721 3 года назад

@@delicateghoul social political is more on par than economical reasons. Social political is the undercurrent that drives people

@Sustaita.handmade 3 года назад

@@Butterflier00 20s was a tad bit shorter but 30s definitely got a bit longer and then 40s got a bit shorter because of rationing. 50s skirts could be long or short and got fuller and then skirts slimmed down then shortened a lot in the 60s.

@marchgregoroff4605 3 года назад

I'm 56, and had never heard that heel height was dependent on the economy. However, I had heard that we bought redder lipstick when times were bad. I have no evidence for this, and I know our esteemed hostess doesn't 'do' makeup, but I would love to know the stats on lippy.

@ragnkja 3 года назад

The argument I’ve heard for lipstick is that it’s a small, fairly affordable luxury, which makes it preferable to other luxury products in leaner times.

@EH23831 3 года назад

I think it’s that sales of lipstick go up in hard times - small luxuries...

@zenkar9804 3 года назад

March Gregoroff if you want to hear try looking up Syfya Nygard ( might have spelled her name wrong) she does a video on the history of lip stick

@marchgregoroff4605 3 года назад

@@zenkar9804 thank you, will do

@ladiebug395 3 года назад

@@marchgregoroff4605 Safiya Nygaard is the proper spelling. This is definitely true for American women during WWII, red lipstick was seen as patriotic and a way for women to show their support for the war effort. I believe there was also a campaign that told American women that Hitler hated red lipstick 😂

@TheMetatronGirl 3 года назад

Thank you for debunking this! Based on my own memories of the latter part of the 20th century, I’ve always thought this theory was off. I LOVED all the references of catalogs and museum pieces you referenced!! I’m a bit of a shoe fanatic. I had surgery on both of my feet: The left in ‘85, the right in ‘93. As a result, the highest heel I could wear was 3”, and only briefly. The early ‘00s were brutal! That’s roughly when I quit caring about modern shoe fashion, and began a love affair with weird, unique, and/or vintage footwear. Really loved this one!!

@FeathPymArt 3 года назад

In the '60s, I heard this exact same 'study' - only it was skirt lengths, not heel heights lol ... I heard the skirt thing in the 80s, too, I think.

@ivywells2909 3 года назад

This video makes my data nerd heart so happy. Pop sci studies are awful, they undermine actual scholarly work and erode public trust of research and analysis. Thanks for applying your expertise to this one!

@diamondtrinket 3 года назад

My heels went down as my age went up......

@ZenAgain24 3 года назад

So true! 😆

@lucie4185 3 года назад

Life's too short to be uncomfortable.

@diamondtrinket 3 года назад

@@lucie4185 I am too short without heels... But prefer comfort now

@robinchesterfield42 3 года назад

My heels went down as my patience for them did. I'm 5'1" so I'm STILL gonna be short with heels on anyway, so...why not _not_ torture my feet all day/risk snapping an ankle?

@lisawise4204 3 года назад

Same. Back in my 20’s I would wear 4” stilettos. Now at nearly 40, I wear my comfortable Rockport wedges on occasion, but more of than not, if I consider wearing heels (2” extra comfy pumps by Clark’s), I’ll try them on, then I’m like “nope” and put on flats.

@lwoods507 3 года назад

Never heard the High Heel Recession Theory before - though my professor in university in the early 2000s put forward the Skirt Hemline Recession Theory that was very similar. I also recall the early 2000s high heel horror - where there were ballet flats or five inch spikes, and NOTHING in between. The early 2000s were a bleak time for womens' fashion.

@erinjackson6243 3 года назад

You could find *some* in between heights. Although most of those looked like very dated grandma shoes. 😅

@ah5721 3 года назад

The early 2000's were a nightmare. I remember the low rider jean butt crack and platform everything.

@BLW_Studios 3 года назад

I strongly agree with your opinion. In my art history classes, one of the comments my teachers used to drop was the fact that "movements are not made form one day to the other nor become dominant rightaway", just like art, economics and fashions are the result of maaaaaany cultural and social factors that are hard to identify unless there is a year to year documented archive to make comparisons 🙈 I saw that video essay I was like: ok, but where is the historical factor? Women did not wore high heels the same way they do now 🙃 I was so confused XD thank goodness you talked about the topic and clear most of my doubts!

@e.urbach7780 3 года назад

This was a really interesting video. I did a similar study when in college, on the relationship between women's skirt hem lengths and widths and the economy, during part of the same time period that you discuss (I only used 1850-1950). I also theorized that longer and fuller skirts embody both luxury (amount of fabric), nostalgia (similarity to styles of the past), and conservatism (cover up more of the body), which appeal to people when they are not doing well economically. I found that this theory tracked fairly well between 1880 and 1940 but not so much during the other decades.

@WhitneyDahlin 3 года назад

Very interesting! I'm about halfway through the video but I also wanted to mention that correlation doesn't equal causation and trends come around about every 20 years anyway. So just because the trend is toward higher heels doesn't mean the economy has anything to do with it. What if we point to presidential elections and say when a conservative is an office heels are lower and when a Democrats in office heals are higher? What if I said that and then claimed the heel height was due to whether conservativeism or liberalism was the most popular at the time. There's probably just as much evidence for my random theory I just now made up as there is for the heel height economy theory xD thank you so much for your hard work and effort in making these videos

@katherinemorelle7115 3 года назад

I was one of those people wearing combat boots in the 90s. And I’m glad for that- it was a very comfortable time in my style evolution. I tended to wear my docs with those floaty, floral, buttoned up dresses. Very Drew Barrymore in the mid 90s. I’d also wear my Chucks with dresses. It was a whole thing. A very comfortable thing, certainly more comfy than the ridiculously high platform heels I was wearing a decade later. But now I wear either flats or AD shoes, and I’m back to being comfy again.

@jessabalough4738 3 года назад

I was in elementary school during the early 2000s and wore a woman's size 6 by first grade... going shoe shopping for "dress shoes" was a time! We couldn't find hardly any flats in the woman's section and none of the children's shoes fit, so we would go through at least three shoe stores to find a pair of (usually ugly) flats so my mom wouldn't be forced to send her six year old to church in 4 inch stilettos!

@kbskipper 3 года назад

I would suggest that one reason that we went back to kitten heels in the early 1980s was that Princess Diana favored that height. As someone who was in my early 20s at this time, I definitely noticed that the increase in fashionable low heel shoes mirrored what Diana was wearing just after she married Prince Charles. Love your videos, both educational and entertaining!

@OutfitRepeater 3 года назад

I seem to have bought my weirdest/highest shoes when I myself was in a depression 🤣, regardless of the economy. This was a great analytical breakdown 👍🏻

@hannahcollins1816 3 года назад

Shoe shopping therapy!! Deeefinitely a thing 😅

@stephaniesews6603 3 года назад

Oh yes, 14 cm with platforms, what was I thinking (dark thoughts, I guess)! :D

@leila_h_photography 3 года назад

I love this, such an interesting and informative way of debunking a very simplistic "myth". :) Also, kudos on the subtle music changes in the background to que the different periods. 👌🎶

@alixv8256 3 года назад

Thank you very much for that detailed response to the video. It really shows how difficult it can be to make broad generalization over history. You and other people in the comment have pointed out a series of methodological flaws: sampling problems, cherry-picking, overgeneralization, confusion between correlation and causation. But even if those methodological flaws were corrected, I'm not even sure that a well constructed study showing us a correlation between recessions and high heels would be on its own very helpful to understand fashion. Economy is only one among several factors that can influence fashion, and shoes are only a part of a general fashionable silhouette. I'm not sure that a study on these two elements taken in isolation would teach us very much about the real world.

@mouseluva 3 года назад

Oh my god, the struggle to find sensible heels in the 00s was real!! I remember my school shoes couldn't be trainers for uniform reasons so one year I ended up having to wear fairly high heels all winter, walking over rough ground with a heavy bag! I had 50-year-old knees at 14 thanks to that trend!

@mlgilbert4 3 года назад

I feel this so much! My mom bought me SAS old lady shoes since they were the only flat non-trainers we could find!

@ericajones3817 3 года назад

I would think that heel height trends have more to do with hem length trends than anything else. Some heel hights just look better with certain lengths of skirts. I also was in college in the early 2000s. I remember conducting walking tours for student housing in 5" platform heels. The expressions on whining 18 year old faces about tired feet when they were wearing sneakers and their mothers pointed out my foot wear was hysterical.

@amb163 3 года назад

Thank you! I saw that theory going around and just as a regular historian (not a shoe or fashion historian), I thought it was very dubious at best.

@Dhdjksjsnsnsnnsnsna 3 года назад

as a history nerd that did only basic art history at a pre-university level: same. it really shouldn't take a historian to understand that history is human and therefore, rather complex.

@onareeberard4380 3 года назад

Could some increases in heel heights be because of structural reasons? Could it be that people figured out how to make higher heels because they they figured how to make it work. Or had materials that they didn't have in the past to be able to make taller heels work?

@AlexisTwoLastNames 3 года назад

i love how nuanced life is. this is very interesting. i avoided the video in question cuz i’m wary of larger creators when it comes to history, but i’m excited to see this

@vermillion9nelson188 3 года назад

Something that's not included in the studies, including this one, is the time it takes to design, source materials, manufacture, and ship shoes. Design trends can develop years before they actually hit the stores. I mean, we don't expect American Duchess to see an economic trend, say "Must make higher heels!!" and have shoes available on the site within 6 months.

@NicoleRudolph 3 года назад

Actually that’s about the turn around! The shoes that are coming out now were designed and sent off to start in November. If it weren’t for holidays slowing things down (China has a long holiday in Jan/Feb) the shoes would usually be 6 months design to on site. And that’s a small company!

@ah5721 3 года назад

@@NicoleRudolph so I can reasonably expect AD to make the shoes I like again in an 11 in 6months?

@AJansenNL 3 года назад

This theory sounds like a fantasy, nothing to do with everyday reality. Bad economy means less income. That means less money for fashion, making do with what you have instead of replacing it. Also, it often means people trying to work more (often menial) jobs, calling for more practical (lower) shoes.

@Vereynique 3 года назад

Nicole has just served this theory on a silver platform shoe.

@beagleissleeping5359 3 года назад

The only shoe fashion change I can recall from my 1990's is the addition of high tops to the range of sneakers because 80% of us wore sneakers absolutely everywhere. 😉

@cincocats320 3 года назад

Platform sneakers were huge in my neck of the woods in the 90s and Doc Martens too. So it was more thick, chunky. Nobody I knew was into ultra high heels even though Manolo references were all over the place because of Sex in the City. Not that platforms are better to walk in than high heels. I turned my ankle more than once :/

@littlemissmel88 3 года назад

@@cincocats320 oh man those platform sneakers! Lol I remember those well.

@raraavis7782 3 года назад

True. I was a teen in the 90s and most girls would wear jeans (Levis 501 were the most popular brand/model) and Converse or Doc Martens. For the boys it was mostly skater shoes and baggy, low worn jeans. I was one of the few girls, who would 'dress up' and wear heals and make up and stuff. Which is kinda funny, because my style later became increasingly casual - my clothes today would be more appropriate for a school girl, then what I wore back then 😆

@natnuss98 3 года назад

You are completely right it is hard to actually get an accurate picture of the Whole world and shoe hight.

@kaytiej8311 3 года назад

Your research and knowledge is impeccable. For me it highlights, as do several of the comments, the need for what is generally the mid-heel, everyday walking shoes. I'm so tired of the only current choice being over 2 inches or flats. Any wonder I'm enthralled by the 20s/30s shoes. Bring them back, I say!

@rinatail7248 3 года назад

This is probably because I was in private school, but I only wore flats and 1-2 inch heels in the early 2000s The same goes for the other girls I knew This could also be a difference between women's shoes and girls shoes

@fieryhun 3 года назад

The amount of research that went just this video is astounding to think about. I mean I've kinda thought of this topic as a sort of Shower thought experiment, but I'm glad you did this video and basically answered this question for us, me specifically.

@KristinOphelia 3 года назад

What do I wear right now? Socks..What do I usually wear? 1920s inspired mens shoes/boots; because I can't be arsed to wear high heels in the office, and the boots are so much more comfy.

@erinhindman8176 3 года назад

I love this!!! I haven’t been following this channel for long, but I get the vibe that you’re the Caitlin Doughty of cos-tube. Can’t wait to see more!

@lynn858 3 года назад

You’re in for a good time on cos-tube! The beautiful thing is that Nicole isn’t the only one doing this fascinating kind of video. Cos-tube has some seriously academically motivated researchers presenting on topics they’re passionate about.

@lucie4185 3 года назад

Interesting video, me and my friend were discussing what shoe styles would become more popular now that working from home is socially acceptable whether comfier styles come in because people don't need to show off or whether they go wilder because they are free of dress codes.

@missbaileyfernweh 3 года назад

Honestly, if you overlaid avg heel height and the economic fluctuations on a graph, they are NOT going to match up - there might be a little bit more correlation if you compared heel height to # of women in the workforce, as that would drive shoe decisions much more than "the economy". Amazing video, Nicole!

@calicolyon 3 года назад

I love this! I just did a shoe purge and few heels lived to stay in my pile.

@lenabreijer1311 3 года назад

I can support your view of the 60s and 70s. One inch sling back shoes for most of the time with the occasional flat gogo boot. Evening could be a bit higher but us working and middle class people didn't do fancy galas and disco dancing wasn't as easy in heels later on. In the late 90s I discovered Birkenstocks! After that shoes became about the function of walking as the body aged and became fussy.

@draughtoflethe 3 года назад

Tottering around college campus in the early 2000's on 4-inch heels: I felt that in my *soul.* (Ngl, I kinda miss those boots though...)

@colettebramwell-colyer 3 года назад

Omg I want/need those blue high heels from 1924 😍😍

@erinjackson6243 3 года назад

Right?! I audibly gasped when I saw those. So gorgeous.

@nabilahikmat1740 3 года назад

I agree, and I don't even like heels that much

@devinbaggs7542 3 года назад

Thank you for making this! I was so curious when I first started seeing this statement, and I was like "this needs more research." Nicole to the rescue!!!

@ordinaryorca9334 3 года назад

Just hearing you explain the study already made me realise that this was a hypothesis and they looked for evidence, rather than formulating a hypothesis on the data

@shellylrobinson6999 3 года назад

Man I think I saw my prom shoes in those 1990s-2000s pictures.

@uzlezzz 3 года назад

I found that an excellent, well researched and well argued video essay. I always thought that theory a bit of a correlation rather than causation, but now it is clear it was "research" to support an argument that was inherently flawed as opposed to collecting data and extrapolating a conclusion. Thank you.

@Hair8Metal8Karen 3 года назад

The 1990s had the Spice Girls and the massive platforms they wore, even platform sneakers!

@ninad205 3 года назад

I could listen to you talk about shoes all day! What a great video and a pleasant watch:)

@your_dad_on_vacation 3 года назад

I think the heel goes up when the economy is up because that's when we don't need the practicality of a low or nonexistent heel and can be more eccentric with our fashion, and the heel goes down when we need to be more practical for work

@Dhdjksjsnsnsnnsnsna 3 года назад

as an art student/nerd, i've always had my suspicions about that channel. however, i've never learnt anything about fashion history and thus couldn't ever place a finger on where they went wrong. thanks for this, very educational

@tiamatmichellehart6821 3 года назад

I shall also add what I learned from being a child of the 80s: *heel height was then a show of power.* In the business world (and here I also include teachers, even of elementary school), the more authority a woman had, the higher her heels tended to be. For one personal example I contrast the costume of our school's female principal with the almost non-existent heels often worn by our young blonde Grade 6&8 teacher (usually with shorter-but-still-knee-length exceptionally-tight skirts; the principal by this time was male again and had taken quite a fancy to her). I shall also note that *end of decade fashion tends to be a product of the cresendo'ing sensibilities of the past decade, rather than the shape of the decade to come.* It generally takes a couple of years for a new decade to distinguish itself.

@xavierrodriguez1370 3 года назад

Heels: Change hight ModernGurlz: Coincidence? Nicole Rudolph: Yes. I love you both.

@brigidscaldron 3 года назад

I so appreciate that you approach this with good academic methods. Also… Well done on Abby’s video! That was hilarious!

@ymasen 3 года назад

I feel like we need a cross-over that goes into if heels really makes your butt look better 🤔

@allyrose8884 3 года назад

Wonderful video! Just wanted to point out one thing I noticed as a science teacher. You called this a theory, which colloquially is how we use the word. But in the scientific sense, this would be a hypothesis, something that relates two or more variables and can be tested. A theory ties together multiple lines of evidence(measurable facts), hypotheses, and laws (mathematical relationships that allow us to make predictions). Thanks for the well researched video!

@ThimbleAndPlume 3 года назад

Yes!!! Especially when you get to the 90's! I had the same reaction as you because I also remember the 90's as well as the high heels of the 2000's. But, I will admit I was total trash for the platforms tennis shoes and flip flops. 😂

@MissHoyden 3 года назад

Many years ago a fashion journalist pointed out that platform shoes (and, I would argue, extreme fashion in general) come into fashion roughly every 20 years. She said that it’s because no one is going to go through the ankle twisting awfulness of high platform shoes twice.

@ah5721 3 года назад

Yep I had platform sandles in the early 2000's in middle school. Twisted my ankles multiple times

@ThatOneLadyOverHere 2 года назад

And this is why I watch people like you and not the trendy type of video that just do half the research and just use what matches the conclusion they want.

@lauraoergel6003 3 года назад

I was totally waiting for this LOL. It would be worth summarizing that what is represented in fashion or in how we would like to be perceived during downturns in the economy is that we would still like to appear as though we are not struggling, which may contribute to the rise of heel height as presented socially in high fashion or high optic settings. Ergo, dressing to the nines when you go out to a nice event, but actually renting the runway and eating ramen at home

@argusfleibeit1165 3 года назад

I think the 20th Century was a laboratory for designs of all kinds of things. And I hope that now that we have global marketplaces, all designs will be available all the time. People have decided what cuts and rises of jeans they like, the same with bras and briefs. Some people like to be dressed up in sequins, others love to dress up in tie-dyed hippie dresses. Do whatever you want with your hair length, cut, texture and color. It's a big world, and people can choose all kinds of stuff. The world economy runs of consumption, which is kind of bad for the planet. But the more we buy only what we really like and need, maybe things will not be so wasteful. I own no spike heels or sequins, but I'm glad you can have them if that's what you want.

@lesleyharris525 3 года назад

Thank you for the work involved in making this video, hugely enjoyed it, your videos are fun and informative.💖

@xtsdagger6956 3 года назад

Thank you, we love watching your videos. I never dreamed I would watch a "shoe historian", but we are happy to have found you!

@cedainty 2 года назад

Nichole! you are spot on in this vid. I'm born in 1943 and have seen the crazy directions shoes and fashions have gone in the past years. There is nothing to do with recession or wealth. I postulate that the real difference is caused by engineering. Heels got higher and thinner because we had stronger materials and better glues. Add that to the idea that the next generation wants always to outdo the last, and you have wild designs and construction that make drastic design changes possible and desirable.

@AmayaBrady 3 года назад

Thank you for the informative and well research the subject! Loved the extended resources list, I hope it will inspire others down a similar path.♥

@emmayoung330 3 года назад

It sorta seems from the data that heel heights went up and styles started to vary more as women started getting more economic power and social liberties. Especially once women enter the work force in the 40s and again in the late 60s/70s you start seeing the really tall/wild shoes break out. Maybe because we could now buy a pair of “comfy work shoes” and “going out shoes” vs. one pair of utilitarian, everyday shoes you see in more “domestic” eras? This video gave me so much to think about, love it!

@gecgeczik8885 3 года назад

That video popped up on my feed as well. Glad you're talking about it

@sephyemergency9953 3 года назад

I love how specific and well-thought out this video is, it's fascinating.

@tiffanytomasino335 2 года назад

Good Research! Love it. Thank you for sharing

@frank7411 3 года назад

Thank you for making this video! I watched the other video and was a bit skeptical, but I'm not knowledgeable enough on shoe (or recession) history to tell what exactly sounded weird. Your explanation was very thorough and informative, just how I like it! 🥰

@maren5140 2 года назад

you deserve sooo many more followers, you are one of the few sewing channels (also shoes, but i'm a tailor, pattern maker and designer;)) i get proper, extensive information from, and not just the basic knowledge! you're so talented and informed and it is a delight to learn from you

@lynbdesigns 3 года назад

I remember wearing 5 in platforms in high school every day. It was a crazy time. I towered over all my friends.

@Hair8Metal8Karen 3 года назад

Same. Platforms and stilettos were the only shoes that fit my gargantuan feet.

@lynbdesigns 3 года назад

@@Hair8Metal8Karen Yes! I'm in the big foot club too.

@hannahnewby9937 3 года назад

would love a video looking into shoes in the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries! this was such a fascinating video

@littlemissmel88 3 года назад

Always love these informational videos! Thank you for doing so much research on this topic, I remember those crazy platform sneakers and flip flops in the late 90s and had many! Being from California, most of my closet was filled with flip flops and nothing else, no matter the trend!

@domeatown 2 года назад

What I have found, just from observing people around me, is that it seems more like the chunkiness of the heel changes more than the height. When people don't feel hopeful, it seems like they wear bigger, clunkier, chunkier shoes. this is what I have noticed anecdotally in my life

@ColorwaveCraftsCo 3 года назад

I had a feeling you were about to completely debunk this theory, but I love all the effort and research you put in to this

@giannabty 3 года назад

Thankyou for investigating this, its haunted me for years!

@amandabashor1312 3 года назад

I always learn so much in your videos!! I'm super curious if we'll see an upturn in sales of high heels and business wear once we really exit pandemic-fashion and work-from-home pjs/loungewear.

@JessMakingArt 3 года назад

Classic correlation does not indicate causation case! Thanks for this analysis. Fun to watch! More in play is the technology that makes heel height possible. I remember that period of time where you could only find 4 inch heels at Dillard’s. I ended up with a closet full of shoes I couldn’t wear but hung onto for years cuz I felt guilty and because I found them pretty.

@jeanetteferree6118 3 года назад

OMG, I had that same video pop up on my feed, too. So glad you made this video.

@tanjahorvatserbiaoldslavsh4685 3 года назад

Nowadays, women shoes are divided into two groups: 1) everyday comfortable ( flat, smaller heels ( max 4cm - 2in ), platform ( max 8cm - 3in ); 2) special occasion ( these shoes can have heels up to 15cm - 6in ).

@melima_ 3 года назад

I always saw the thumbnail of said video, scoffed at it and kept scrolling, thanks for debunking it!

@deniseyoung3738 3 года назад

I loved seeing all the historic shoe examples!

@jexl1059 2 года назад

i love your studies. and lol such a logic analysis of a theory :)

@laurensternenberg7635 3 года назад

In the 70’s I had platforms (“ankle breakers”) and 5 inch dress heels(“disco shoes”), but I also had what they called Earth Shoes. The heels were actually lower than the toes. Supposedly they were like walking in sand. Don’t know what the heel vs economy folks would say about that combination. Wish I could go back in time and tell 18 year old me to not ruin the knees with those 5 inchers....

@susanbudd4892 3 года назад

The same was said about skirt lengths getting longer during recessions. Can you imagine someone thinking “ I don’t have as much money so I’ll potentially spend more money for my clothes.”🥴 I really enjoy your talks. Thank you.

@cornflakes-does-stuff 3 года назад

really informative and fun vid!

@sheleavitt06 3 года назад

I love watching historians battle it out over theses. So entertaining 🍿🍿🍿☺️

@annechenlowey7462 2 года назад

The Spiders Georg Historian videos always make me giggle. Also - that bit about you thinking about your mother's footwear reminded me of "Ah, ya muddah wears combat boots!" Which, to be honest, yeah - my mama's favorite hiking boots when we were in Girl Scouts were Army Surplus. Functional, but not fashionable. That didn't stop her from wearing them to PTA meetings. 😀

@mjgbabydragonlet 3 года назад

I started wearing combat boots to charity events in the early 1990's I think I was protesting the formal heels expected by the the organizers. As my purpose was to raise money for a 501c, I figure comfort mattered more aesthetics. After a catastrophic injury (2000), I moved to lighter weight shoes, but still went for the protection offered by flat soles. Now I am known for my killer Van's with flashy laces that coordinate with my dress. I did not feel like I missed out in the last year...not attending formal events. It has been a joy to support causes I believe in while not needing to put on a dress.

@learikosontcuit7129 3 года назад

This is super interesting. I don't mind essay video at all because I don't have the concentration required to do this work myself 😌 I would just like to point that when a video is focused on measurements it would be very appreciated to have the conversion in international measurements written on the screen ^-^

@berlineczka 3 года назад

As a sociologist versed in statistics I would rather hypothesise that we simply have an overlap of fashion and business cycles. They are not related (or not much), but they run parallel so it is only natural that they will conjunct from time to time. If anythink, I'd say that the lipstick effect has more sound theoretical assumptions (although no compelling empirical evidence beside a few anecdotal cases, as far as I know).