After a period of staying at home in our hoodies and sweatpants, we can start dressing up again, because apparently that is what people often do after a crisis if we are to believe the Hemline Theory.
Philip Hans Franses, Professor of Applied Econometrics at Erasmus School of Economics, researched the Hemline Theory in 2010. According to this theory from 1926, skirts become longer when the economy is going through decline and shorter when the economy recovers. In a programme from EenVandaag, Franses talks about his findings.
Franses compared the skirt lengths in all editions of a French fashion magazine from 1921 onwards with the state of the world economy. He came to the conclusion that the length of the skirt had nothing to do with the economy. However, he did find another link between fashion and the economy. 'We came to the conclusion that it is not the economy that follows fashion, but fashion that follows the economy. Fashion lags behind the economy by about three years, so it looks back. You see the reaction mainly in colours and not so much in skirt lengths.'
'In the crisis of the 1980s, you saw people wearing a lot of black and grey,' says Franses. 'People were afraid of war, unemployment and diseases like AIDS. But in the period after that, they started dressing up again. You see that happening now too. Now that everything is opening up again, you will see more relaxation. People will dress more frivolously.'
Nevertheless, Franses does not believe that we will start wearing full-on suits again. 'Trainers under formal clothing was already a trend before Corona. But with clothing items it is different than with colours. Since Prince Claus once threw away his tie, people wear it less and less. I have noticed that in myself as well. That is an ongoing development.'