Debenhams says that a woman’s ability (or inability) to walk well in high heels is something that is passed down to her from her mother. It seems that mothers and daughters also tend to prefer the same heel height and the style of the heels they choose. I’m not sure if this is more about genetics or environment.
Debenhams is one of the largest department stores groups in the UK. They have a total of 167 stores in the UK, the Republic of Ireland, and Denmark, and are in a total of 24 countries. They sell clothing for women, men, and children. They also sell health and beauty products, lingerie, accessories, housewares, and gift items. I live in the United States, and have never heard of Debenhams before. Therefore, I’ve no idea what department store here would be their “American equivalent”.
What is clear is that the research about women’s preference in heels, and ability to walk in heels, was done by a store that might have a department where they sell women’s shoes. It makes sense that a store would try and gain a better understanding about what influences a customer to buy something. However, it also makes me wonder about the “science” behind the research.
In any case, Debenhams says that a woman’s ability to walk well in high heels is something that has been passed down to her from her maternal line of ancestors. Moms who walk well in heels have daughters who have the same ability. It appears to be another example where one could apply the old saying: “Like mother, like daughter”.
The research included asking women about what their perfect choice of high heeled shoes was. The answers showed that women who were not related to each other had a wide range of answers to that inquiry. They liked different heel heights, different styles of heels, and even had different color preferences.
However, mothers and daughters gave answers that were extremely similar to each other. 92% of their answers matched. Moms and daughters both liked the same colors of heels, styles of heels, and even heel heights. This was despite having a multitude of different high heel shoes available to select from.
Moms who preferred four inch heels had daughters that also preferred four inch heels. The mothers who said that red was their favorite color for high heels had daughters who (mostly) said the same thing. Around 79% of daughters also said red was their favorite color for heels, too. Preferences also matched in terms of selecting shoes that were narrow, or ones that had pointed toes.
Perhaps the most interesting part of the research came from the “walk tests”. Women put on high heels, and were asked to walk across the room while wearing them. 87% of the moms who could confidently walk across a room in high heels had daughters who could do the same skill just as well. Moms that were not good at walking in heels had daughters who couldn’t do it very well, either.
Is this all due to genetics? Or, do the daughters and mothers match because the daughters were influenced by their mother’s choices in shoes when the daughters were little girls? The study doesn’t give a definitive answer to those questions.
Image by UggBoy UggGirl on Flickr