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Did you know ……..

Skirts tend to rise when the economies rise [and vice versa]

Well…if you didn’t know already, let me explain what the above statement actually means.

In 1929, Wharton economist, George Taylor coined a famous term known as Hemline Effect/Indicator.  Backed by his research on stock market and hemlines, Mr. Taylor theorized that when an economy is doing good, women tend to wear shorter skirts as opposed to the times when an economy is down. In other words, as the hemlines (line on the lower end of the skirt) rise, they indicate that the economy is growing as well.

So much for the theory….now let’s see if we can suffice the Hemline Effect with some real data. While doing a research on this topic, I stumbled upon a great book by Kenneth L. Fisher called The Wall Street Waltz. In this very book, I found the image displayed below. Have a look at it.

Tracking the Hemlines - 1897 to 1990

The above chart shows Dow Jones Industrial Average from 1897 to 1990 period.

Let’s see what correlation we can draw from the above chart.

As the US rose from the World War I, US stock market started rising and so did the hemlines in skirts. Skirts became shorter as the economy started to prosper. But when US market was hit by the Great Depression, the hemlines became longer. Women started wearing longer skirts. The world then went past the World War II and skirts still remained longer in the US. There was nothing much to cheer about. But when the markets started to climb up in the 50s, women were back again with the short skirts much to the delight of investors. It was in this period when Marilyn Monroe was at her best.

The skirts went up until late 60s and as we hit the early 70s, long skirts were back on streets. The rising oil prices and inflation were taking its toll on the economy then. The girl watchers were now praying to see the shorter skirts. Sadly, there was nothing much to talk about during 80s as well. But as we geared up for 90s, women started wearing short skirts bringing smiles in the faces of investors.

Source: www.wikimedia.org

Such a fascinating correlation can be observed in 1998-2009 period as well. In late 90s women started wearing shorter skirts suggesting that the economy was doing better. But as we headed to early 2000, the maxi skirts were seen back in fashion. As we all know, early 2000 was the era dominated by the dot-com bubble burst and 9/11. But as we moved into mid 2000, shorter skirts were once again seen back on the streets. But this was short lived. Once we entered the late 2007, longer skirts were seen making rounds on the runways in the US. It was in the late 2007 when the sub-prime crisis started surfacing. With it the longer skirts remained in fashion.

So where is the economy heading to in 2009 – is it going southward or northward? Well, I suggest you to follow this year’s New York Fashion Week (branded as Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week) scheduled to be held from Thursday, September 10 to Thursday September 17. As for me, I am all excited to see where the hemlines will be heading to this fall – Will it rise above or remain below the ankle?

Front page image courtesy www.news.3yen.com