A few weeks ago I saw a woman wearing a dress with a hem rubbing the floor. At first I thought she might be a member of a religious cult that discouraged exposed legs, but over the weeks I've noticed a couple of others. Is the hemline trying to tell us something?
The hypothesis is that high hemlines are coincident indicators of a hot economy, and low hemlines a cold economy. Here's a 2010 paper that sets forth the theory. Notice the last sentence in the abstract: "Hence, the current economic crisis predicts ankle length shirts around 2011 and 2012."
[Dress on the right is Christian Dior from the collections at Vogue.com.]
Side note #1: The sightings were in Midland, Texas, in which the economy is decidedly uncool at the moment. However, it's an industry town, and said industry goes through periods of boom and bust. Could the hemlines be predicting an end of the boom? Nah. Three sightings don't represent a trend.
Side note #2: On the other hand, a quasi government entity wanting to invest in an apartment complex could easily be a contrary indicator.
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