Look Out People Are Keeping Tabs On Your Footwear

Recently I was with a Turkish friend of mine drinking a tea when a rather charming, smartguy sat at the table next to us. My friend took one glimpse at him and said 'time waster'. I asked why she said that, to which she just simply told me to take a look at his scruffy trainers.

My friend swears that taking a look at peoples footwear is frequent practice in Turkey. Both men and women, when assessing the social status and wealth of a person, always examine the shoes before anything else.

Ever since I can't stop myself taking a look at peoples' feet and I am surprised how right she is, very often a person's footwear can give a totally different message to the rest of their outfit.

There may be some truth in this. A study carried out few years ago by some college students found that from a group of 63 people looking at the personal favorite shoes of 200 people, they could accurately predict the person's social status and income ninety percent of the time. So what do your shoes say?

A lot of the findings in the study are more or less obvious for example, extrovert people often wear bright colors. People in comfortable footwear tend to be relaxed whilst higher earners prefer designer brands.

Having said that there are some surprises where the results are not quite as obvious, well cared for shoes tend to be worn by people with attachment anxiety very often having relationship problems. Whilst those in shabby shoes are considered liberal thinkers and people in uncomfortable footwear were found to be more calm than the rest of us.

Beware of a woman wearing ankle boots as according to the study ladies who like wearing these are looked upon as aggressive.

Obviously this can't be taken too seriously but it could explain why a lot of us girls love to buy so many shoes. We need different pairs to demonstrate our mood.

Either way next time you are out and about have a look at everybody's feet you will be surprised at what you see and perhaps look at certain people in a completely different way.

On a different note, the socks you wear with your shoes can make a big difference as well. Do you wear sock color to match your shoes or do you go for a crazy pattern in bright colors? Knee highs or ankle socks? I suggest that to keep people guessing opt for some no show socks even when wearing jeans or trousers that way you can keep everybody guessing. Although most probably this says something about your personality as well.

Marina Resides in Indiana with her husband James and works for Jay's Socks. In her spare time she likes to blog about all things shoes and fashion.