Does your heart race when you look at shoes you consider buying? Do you feel pure joy course through your veins when you wear them for the first time? If you answered, “YES!”…you are a charter member of The Women Who Love Shoes Club.
I’m on a visitors pass.
As time goes on, I must admit I am becoming more and more fascinated with ‘shoe love’ in particular the sub culture of –‘red shoe love’.
I’ve witnessed women literally transform in front of my eyes as they describe a pair of beloved shoes which grows to include a time in their lives, how they felt and the experiences that went with. It’s mesmerizing to say the least and totally thought provoking. So I figure if there’s an opportunity for some extra love in our lives…let’s take a look!
My mission this week: Explore (red) Shoe Love.
In late spring a friend (Leslie the music lover) was vacationing in London and Paris and snapped a bunch of pictures of red shoes (including the one above). She had purchased 2 pairs of her own red shoes before leaving. They were decidedly more conservative (a cheerful sneaker and a happy sandal) than the ones that caught her eye abroad. I don’t think hers were threatened by their high style European sisters. They were comfortable in their own skin (upper?).
OK… So here’s what I know…Women who love shoes don’t just love their shoes they also LOVE the pursuit of them! Did you know that for many women “buying shoes taps into the most primitive of instincts; the hunt, the chase and the kill,” states writer Alyssa Siegel in Psychology Tomorrow Magazine. Apparently even thinking about shoe shopping (for Women Who Love Shoes) causes the adrenaline to pump. By the time they arrive at the shoe store the dopamine, norepinephrine, oxytocin and serotonin are already releasing. That’s impressive.
According to Martin Lindstrom author of Buyology:Truth and Lies About Why We Buy, “when women buy other kinds of apparel the dopamine flatlines when the debit card is swiped but not with shoes women rationalize shoes are a practical buy-something they can wear multiple times a week- so they hold onto that pleasurable feeling longer.”
Here’s another little known fact —buying new shoes stimulates an area of the brain’s prefrontal cortex termed ‘the collecting spot’. Shoes are viewed as a collecting item (think stamps), “adding to the collection evokes a mini adrenaline rush”, says Helen Fisher PhD Professor of Anthropology Rutgers University.
I’m starting to see shoe shopping as a socially responsible activity as well as an investment in health. Could we stave off minor depression with a prescription for shoe shopping and at least a trial membership in The Women Who Love Shoes Club?
Hmmmmm….I’ll be thinking about that
Tomorrow: Supernatural Shoe Facts
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