PARIS: If only those hedge-fund hotties had taken their eyes off their screens and looked at Angelina Jolie's hemlines! Financial pundits should take note that in the months since the movie star found she was expecting twins and adopted a new, ankle-length, hippie-de-luxe style, the stock market has followed her downward trajectory.
The floor-sweeping style started a trend taken up by young Hollywood from Jessica Simpson to the über-stylist Rachel Zoe. Their look offers an eerie parallel with the 1970s - the last time that recession and plummeting hemlines were in unison.
Fashion is always a mirror of society. Thus, in a strange forecast of what the Federal Reserve discovered in the banking system, over-exposure and total transparency in the wardrobe has been followed by complex cover-ups and a downward spiral.
Fashion designers now seem clairvoyant. This summer's collections - shown last October, when the stocks were still riding high on a bull market - were filled with long skirts. From classic Chanel to cool Christopher Kane, dresses were long and languorous or a waterfall of frills - but always scraping the floor. Fashion had turned its back on the Paris Hilton girlie glitz: short, sheer dresses; sequinned sparkles; and any-color-as-long-as-it-is-pink.
Why wasn't Wall Street noting the sartorial changes? Although designers always dismiss the correlation between skirt lengths and financial markets as a fashion historian's fantasy, the parallels are striking. Up went hemlines to dizzying heights in the financial and social whirl of the roaring 1920s - revealing women's legs for the first time in recorded history. Then came the bear market and bare was out - except for low backs on the floor-length gowns that dropped hemlines just before the 1929 Wall Street crash.
War always brings clothing back to the status quo, according to James Laver, the historian who traced the rise and fall of waistlines as symbolic of social upheaval in his sweeping study "Costume: The Arts of Man," published in 1963. The end of the Second World War (and the arrival of Christian Dior) brought waists and hemlines back to "normal." But as soon as the economy expanded in the 1960s, up and away went miniskirts - only to crash with the financial troubles in the 1970s. And so the graph of skirt lengths has continued in tandem with Western economies with the 15-year run of bull markets reflected in short-and-sweet dresses.
You could, of course, put the current fashion down to boredom and a desire for change. Or, in the case of Jolie and other actresses like Jessica Alba and Gwen Stefani, a way of maternity dressing that elongates a puffy silhouette and conceals swollen ankles and veined legs.
But that simplistic view does not explain why the long skirts have caught on even with young French women, who traditionally have always worn short, slim outfits. The fact that Jolie's maternity wardrobe of high-waisted, floor sweeping dresses came from Gérard Darel, a middle market French clothing company, rather than from either a designer resource or a fast fashion chain, proves that there is a pent-up demand for the look. Expect a new version of the maxi coat to surface for winter.
Yet the absolute connection between finance and fashion remains more a hunch than a proven reality. Harold Koda, curator in charge of the Costume Institute at the Metropolitan Museum in New York, instigated a research project at Harvard Business School to try and nail the reality of the myth.
"There were many exceptions - the rule does not always apply," says Koda, who himself looked at the idea that "flush times mean higher hemlines" by taking expansive fashion way back to the 1860s. "What you can say is that any great designer has his or her finger on the pulse of society," says Koda. "And when you are psychologically battered and feel a sense of encroaching pessimism, there is a tendency to cover up - whether that means long sleeves, higher necklines, long skirts or opaque tights."
Voice actor Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt arrive for the screening of the animated film 'Kung Fu Panda' by directors Mark Osborne and John Stevenson at the 61st Cannes Film Festival May 15, 2008. [Agencies] Angelina Jolie's twins may take a few more weeks to arrive, media quoted the actress's doctor as saying Thursday. Dr. Michel Sussman said the actress had checked into the hospital just for closer surveillance rather than for birth, adding that Jolie "will stay in the hospital until the birth."
"She is very well, and she's okay. Brad and Angelina want everyone to know that everything is going well. Everything is normal," Sussman assured. Sussman gave no due date about birth of Jolie's twins, saying they are expected to arrive in the weeks to come. "This is something you can't program, you never know for sure," Sussman said. The 33-year-old Oscar winner already has one daughter with actor Brad Pitt -- 2-year-old Shiloh Nouvel Jolie-Pitt. The couple have also adopted three more children - Cambodian-born son Maddox, daughter Zahara from Ethiopia and Pax from Vietnam.
Washington (ANI): Want to look like Angelina Jolie? Well, your dreams can now be a possibility, thanks to a website that is offering the actress' secondhand clothes. On CharityFolks.com, a bidding has opened on one of the leather jackets Jolie wears in her upcoming movie 'Wanted'. The jacket features a diagonal front zipper and tassels, reports E! Online.
And buyer beware, not only is the bid expected to max out at 3000 dollars, it's a size extra small. The proceeds will benefit Plan!t Now, which is an organization started by Morgan Freeman to help families prepare for natural disasters before they happen.
It looks like Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt are serious about settling into their new digs in the South of France. The couple has sold their $3.5 million home in New Orleans' French Quarter after having moved there in 2006, according to E!
The Jolie-Pitt clan lived in New Orleans for two years while Pitt was filming the movie The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and launched the Make It Right NOLA foundation. Brad will reportedly remain actively involved in the project, which will construct some 150 eco-friendly homes in NOLA's Lower 9th Ward.
Meanwhile, Angie, 33, and Brad, 44, have leased a lavish 880-acre wine estate in Provence, France, where Angie is expected to give birth to their fraternal twins within the next few weeks.
The breathtaking $70 million property, called Chateau Miraval, reportedly has its own chapel, 35 bedrooms, a banquet hall, a lake, a moat, indoor and outdoor pools and a high-tech gym. The estate even houses a recording studio that was previously been used by rocker Sting and even Pink Floyd, who recorded parts of their iconic album, The Wall, there.
It looks like Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt are serious about settling into their new digs in the South of France. The couple has sold their $3.5 million home in New Orleans' French Quarter after having moved there in 2006, according to E!
The Jolie-Pitt clan lived in New Orleans for two years while Pitt was filming the movie The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and launched the Make It Right NOLA foundation. Brad will reportedly remain actively involved in the project, which will construct some 150 eco-friendly homes in NOLA's Lower 9th Ward.
Meanwhile, Angie, 33, and Brad, 44, have leased a lavish 880-acre wine estate in Provence, France, where Angie is expected to give birth to their fraternal twins within the next few weeks.
The breathtaking $70 million property, called Chateau Miraval, reportedly has its own chapel, 35 bedrooms, a banquet hall, a lake, a moat, indoor and outdoor pools and a high-tech gym. The estate even houses a recording studio that was previously been used by rocker Sting and even Pink Floyd, who recorded parts of their iconic album, The Wall, there.
Though Angelina Jolie is soon expecting twins, we snagged a coveted exclusive video interview with the star on the eve of her turn as a sexy assassin in Timur Bekmambetov's high-octane action flick, Wanted. What are you waiting for?? Watch it now.
Jolie kindly sat down with Rotten Tomatoes to discuss Wanted, the major studio debut of acclaimed Russian director Timur Bekmambetov (Night Watch). In it, she plays a sultry assassin named The Fox -- and although it sounds utterly ridiculous for the world's most beautiful woman to say so, Jolie admits to us that she never watches footage of her scenes: "I can't watch myself."
Click below to watch and hear Angelina Jolie discuss Wanted's mysterious body of killers, "The Fraternity," on working with Bekmambetov and co-star James McAvoy, and catch a glimpse of a few of Wanted's most audacious action scenes.
While the rumours of Angelina Jolie's delivery have finally been put to rest, one person who is really looking forward to the D Day is actor Dustin Hoffman. Oscar winner Dustin Hoffman, who has starred in hits such as "Rainman" and "The Graduate", says he will supply Angelina Jolie a life time worth of toys if she will give birth to her twins on his birthday. Contactmusic.com reports that Jolie is due to deliver in August. Hoffman seems to be in a hurry because he wants the twins to share his birthday.
He said: "She's meant to be due on Aug 19, and it is my birthday on Aug 8. If she could will that birth to be on my birthday, there is no end to the gifts I would give. It's the least she could do."
PARIS: If only those hedge-fund hotties had taken their eyes off their screens and looked at Angelina Jolie's hemlines! Financial pundits should take note that in the months since the movie star found she was expecting twins and adopted a new, ankle-length, hippie-de-luxe style, the stock market has followed her downward trajectory.
