A little birdie at Henri Bendel sent us a note today reminding us about the correlation the connection between good economic times and higher hemlines.
From what we can tell the theory goes something like this:
Financial analysts have loosely used it to determine where the economy is headed. So far it’s been pretty accurate. In the '20s and '60s, hemlines were at a high and so was the stock market. And in the '30s and '40s, the stock market was so low that women were almost tripping on their skirts. The hemline theory was also on the ball in 1987. Miniskirts were all the rage, and the stock market was at a matching high. But 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.
In which case all of those sexy minidresses we are seeing on the runways of Balmain, Herve Leger and Versace might just be our ticket to better times. In which case if this a potential buy strategy for Henri Bendel could they just be saving us from the recession?
Versace
Episode
J Brand
Unless the stock markets of the world recover at least 30 percent of their losses and Banks start lending money to each other and to the people plus not go out of business, then we could stave off recession. For the theory to hold, in light of the recent crash in the markets (thought many blame the media for calling it a crash), Fall 2009 will have a longer, leaner if not drab look. When designers created their Spring 2009 collections they failed to foresee, as well as the majority of the population, the historic global stock market plunge that we have witnessed within the last 11 days.