High heels & chignons as economy indicators

Davis and his team also found that people were using fashion as a way to navigate through hard times

I have written in these very columns earlier on the Lipstick Effect — enunciated first by Leonard Lauder, the chair of Estee Lauder, who noted that following the terrorist attacks of September 2001, his company sold more lipstick than usual. As a result, he theorised that lipstick is a contrary economic indicator. Consumers, Lauder felt, still spend money on small indulgences during recessions, economic downturns, or when they personally have little cash. They may not have enough to spend on big-ticket luxury items; however, many still find the cash for purchases of small luxury items, such as premium lipstick. Hence