Today’s The New York Times Style section includes an entertaining story about skirt and dress hemlines corresponding to stock market and economic trends.
The writer pointed out that in times of economic prosperity, especially when the stock market is up, so are hemlines. Miniskirts were all the rage during the 1960s but with the economic downturn of the 1970s, hemlines were down, too. Maxidresses were popping up everywhere.
The same is true today. The last several years saw high hemlines coinciding with booming economic times. But recently, celebrities and regular Joes (Janes?) have been spotted wearing long, flowy dresses, very reminiscent of the ’70s. And we all know how the market has been acting.
The article stated: “Fashion is always a mirror of society. Thus, in a strange forecast of what the Federal Reserve discovered in the banking system, overexposure and total transparency in the wardrobe has been followed by complex cover-ups and a downward spiral. Fashion designers now seem clairvoyant.”
The author even pointed out that in Russia, an emerging market, the hemlines haven’t dropped to the floor. The dresses and skirts there remain short, corresponding with the country’s young, expanding economy.
While I don’t know how much stock we should put in this analysis, it certainly made for some fun reading.