Height of fashion: Women's obsession with high heels, illustrated by Isla Fisher in Confessions Of A Shopaholic, starts at the age of 12 and does not diminish until they reach 63

    A woman will wear high heels over 51 years of her life, according to a study which links stilettos to the female psyche.

    The average woman puts on her first pair at 12 and takes off her last at 63, when comfort begins to take precedence.

    She will start with a low one-inch heel and build up to a towering five inches by the age of 23, as she teeters into womanhood.

    There will be a small dip in the early 30s, when many women are running after young children. But the first real drop does not occur until the late 40s and early 50s, when the average heel falls to just under two inches.

    Only old age and increasing frailty finally brings the enduring love affair to a reluctant end, sales figure show.

    Said Debenhams spokesman Ed Watson: 'Deciding to put away their high heels for the last time can have the same psychological impact upon women that retiring from work has upon men.

    'It's an all too public admission that they are getting older, and so naturally many women want to postpone this evil day for as long as possible.

    The central role of high heels in a woman's psyche emerged during Debenhams continuing extensive research into the entire women's shoe market.

    It reveals that the heel height worn by women begins to rise in early teens, increasing rapidly from 2.5cm to a whopping 13.5 cms by the age of 23.

    Walking tall continues to be the order of the day through a woman's late 20s and 30s, only beginning to decline slightly by the age of 35 - possibly due to childbirth, Debenhams figures show.

    High heels continue to feature prominently in her wardrobe through her late 30s and up until her mid 40s - the period when many women are building a successful career.

    The first real dip in heel height only occurs in a woman's late 40s and early 50s, when the average height drops to 4.5 cms. And a final drop to 2.5 cms - virtually a normal height heel - occurs from 63 onwards.

    Said Ed Watson: 'These results show that a woman's entire life can be mapped out according to the height of the heel she wears. After a meteoric rise, through youth and early adulthood, they begin to settle down before dropping back gracefully to a comfortable old age.

    一項探討女性心理與鞋跟變化的研究發現，女人一生中穿高跟鞋的時間長達51年。

    一個普通女性從12歲開始穿高跟鞋，到了63歲才真正與它說再見——因為這個年齡開始以舒適為重。

    隨著女孩到女人的轉變，女性的鞋跟也從1英寸逐漸增加到23歲時的5英寸。

    在30歲早期，女性的鞋跟高度出現小幅下降，因為這一時期很多人要跟在孩子后面到處跑。但是鞋跟開始真正意義上的下降是到了她們四五十歲的時候，這一階段女性鞋跟的平均高度降至不到2英寸。

    相關銷售數據顯示，只有到了年老體弱的時候，女人才會戀戀不舍地與高跟鞋說再見。

    英國Debenhams百貨公司發言人埃德•沃特森說：“決定把高跟鞋徹底收起來對女性心理的影響與退休對男性的影響差不多。”

    “這等于是在向眾人宣布，她們開始慢慢變老，所以難怪很多女性想把這個噩夢般的日子盡可能地往后拖。”

    Debenhams百貨在對整個女鞋市場進行廣泛調查的過程中發現了高跟鞋對于女性心理的重要意義。

    調查發現，女性的鞋跟在她們少年早期開始增高，從2.5厘米迅速增長到23歲時的13.5厘米。

    調查數據顯示，在女人二三十歲時，高跟鞋是她們生活中不可或缺的必需品，到了35歲時，她們的鞋跟才開始略微下降，這可能是生孩子的緣故。

    從30歲晚期到40歲中期，高跟鞋仍然是女性鞋柜中的“寵兒”，在這一時期，很多女性的事業正走向成功。

    鞋跟真正意義上的下降是到了女性40歲晚期、開始步入50歲的時候，這一階段女性的鞋跟高度平均下降至4.5厘米；從63歲開始，鞋跟最終降至2.5厘米的正常高度。

    埃德•沃特森說，這些結果表明，一個女人的一生可以用她的鞋跟高度來勾畫。在經歷了青年和少年早期的陡然增高后，她們開始穩定下來，直到講究舒適的老年時期最終降回到正常的高度。

    Vocabulary:

    be the order of the day:議程；流行的事物、風尚