Rising Hemlines.. Rising Stocks
evawhite on May 9th, 2008
The “Hemline Theory”. The belief is, traditionally, hemlines rise in accordance with the economy and they fall when the economy is bad or a stock market fall. So short skirts mean a bull-market? Rising prices?
This is not all unsubstantiated you know I have some facts for you here; this economic indicator was coined by a George Taylor in the US during the late 1920’s. In the ‘20’s and 60’s the hemlines were high, so were the stock markets. In the 30’s and 40’s during the market crash the hemlines were so low that women were tripping on their long skirts. In 1929 when Wall Street crashed the hemlines dropped almost overnight. It was during the sixties along with the rise in the stock markets did the hemlines move north. The advent of Mary Quant’s brash mini-skirt marking a booming economy to only have hemlines drop to the feet during the 70’s slump.
Even in 1987 when miniskirts were all the rage, the stock markets were at a matching high. Then the market quickly crashed in October, right when designers such as Bill Blass decided that miniskirts looked ridiculous. Hemlines dropped and so did the market. Coincidence? I think not!
Quirky but yet a historically accurate tool. It could be thought that an economic slowdown could lead women towards nostalgic, conservative looks and during an economic boom: lots of color, daring, playful, unusual pairing and downright naughty. However the million-dollar question posed here, which comes first? Thigh-high or NASDAQ-high?? It is open to debate …
So does this mean you look to fashion runways for an economic outlook? Well yes, in a way. If judging by what we seen over the years if the runways are somber ensembles, sober-looking models then hoard your cash, but if its opulent, luxurious fabrics, glittery and sexy? It means quite simply pricy stuff are going to hit stores and you better get set to buy them! The economy boom can’t be far off!
