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Recession Core: How the Economic State Affects the Current Trends
from Issue 12 vivacious
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onetheless, times are changing and we’re in the year 2023, where maxi skirts are dominating the season’s runways and micro minis have been undeniably replaced, at least for now. Because whether it’s the price of gas, eggs or a pint of Ben & Jerry’s, things have gotten quite expensive. As a response to the political unrest around the world and a post-pandemic world, the country has seen a cost-of-living rise, and a stock market decline. What exactly does this have to do with Paris Hilton’s mini skirt preference, you may ask? The answer is theoretical.
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In the 1920s, according to CR Fashion Book, economist George Taylor theorized a response to the change in women’s skirt lengths, from the Edwardian floor-length fashion in the early 1900s, to the flapper skirt of his day. Coined the “hemline index,” the theory suggests that an economic recession often coincides with a lengthening of the average woman’s skirt – the reasoning for this change being that “when finances were tight, hemlines dropped as women hid that they couldn’t afford hosiery.” The rise of the flapper is a prime example to revert back to floor length. Those who struggled opted towards repurposing old fabrics, sheets, and even potato sacks, and even the Hollywood glamour of the era reflected a heightening of the waistline and a longer, more feminine figure.
Over the course of the twentieth century the ever-changing trend cycle can almost always be attributed to the economic climate of the time. Even now, the cyclical nature of fashion had the micro mini skirts of the early 2000s making a brief comeback – only to be overshadowed by a more utilitarian and practical reflection of the times in 2023 collections. The maxi skirt is back on the runway and the streets. This could be an attempt at modesty, or simply a reflection of the downsiz ing and more unassuming trend of the new decade.
In our modern trend cycle well beyond the abundance of hosiery, the hemline index is a phenomenon that can only be hypothesized. Nevertheless, as a glance back at the twentieth century’s fluctuation in skirt lengths will tell you, whether or not it’s the economic state that’s determining a woman’s skirt, beauty routine or ideal body, the