Women in the North East wear higher heels than any other region in Britain, according to new research.
A survey, carried out by footcare retailer Compeed, shows the average heel worn by by a North East woman is 3.46 inches.
London women are ranked second, with an average heel height of 3.37 inches, followed by the West Midlands with 3.35 inches.
Head Lecturer in Fashion at Northumbria University, Douglas MacLennan, said the results were "no surprise."
He added: "The typical North East woman is statistically smaller in height, so it gives them a confidence boost."
"High heels used to be about class, and then about enhancing a woman's walk. Now they are partly about talking to someone's face and not their navel."
The origin of high-heeled shoes is widely contested, but early models have been depicted in Ancient Egyptian and Ancient Greek murals, thought to have been worn as a symbol of class.
A platform shoe called the 'chopine' was also developed in the Middle Ages to prevent the upper class having to make contact with the dirty streets.
Technological advancements such as the metal stilleto have enabled heels to become higher over past decades.
Mr MacLennan told Sky Tyne and Wear: "Good shoe design is all about creating something new, and challenging what has gone before.
"Technology is allowing designers to continue to innovate. Hopefully that innovation will help create heels that are easy to walk in.
"A heel that enhances a woman's walk is beautiful, a heel that somebody struggles to walk in can become something quite grotesque."
The survey also shows British women wear higher heels than anywhere else in Europe.
The results come as the nation's women are revealed to be among the shortest in the world - an average of 1cm smaller than Spanish women.