The Dow is down 500 points. Who saw this coming? Ann Taylor, of course.

Belonging to a long tradition of wacky theories for recessions and stock plummets, there's a hypothesis that the length of women's skirts can predict the trajectory of the stock market. When skirts are short, it's a bull market. When skirts are long, it's a bear. Apparently (I hadn't taken much notice) 2011 is a banner year for long skirts, which basically means the stock market was doomed.

Now, I'm sure there is some academic paper written by an economist-psychologist married couple that posits that the same positive animal spirits that lift the Dow might also embolden the country's ladies to wear more adventurous clothing -- or perhaps that periods of over-confidence marked by high skirts often coincide with bubbles. Either way, it's probably best to stop guessing and start subscribing to Anthropologie catalogs for research purposes.

Anthropologie

Ann Taylor loft

French Connection

J. Crew

H&M

Zara

Free People

Urban Outfitters

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