Data isn't the only way to decode the economy—there are stranger clues too:

Economists track beard trends, canned meat sales, car discounts and… skirts!

Why?

Because they reveal how people behave when money’s tight—sometimes faster than charts and spreadsheets ever could.

How It Started:

In 1926, an economist named George Taylor had an idea. He thought the economy could be tracked by fashion—specifically, by skirt length.

Taylor noticed that when money flowed, women felt confident enough to buy expensive silk stockings.

To show them off, they wore shorter skirts.

But when money was tight, hemlines grew longer...

And the pattern kept showing up.

In 2010, a study looked at skirt lengths from 1921–2009. It found a connection—but with a differing conclusion.

The skirts usually changed about three years after the economy did.

So maybe skirts don’t predict the economy.

But they reflect how people feel after the dust settles.

Fun Fact: To test this, Professor Franses coded skirt lengths from L’Officiel (1921 onward) and matched them with U.S. economic data!