European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - February 3, 1969, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 16 the stars and stripes monday february 3, 1969 no plunge Forstock Market hem Ines by Gay Pauley up women s editor Short skirts remained the major style of 1968, despite the threats of the Maxi the Midi and the pantsuit. And the nation s Economy continued it Boom despite political upheaval climb ing Price indexes and the War in Viet Nam. Why link these two seemingly far afield observations because it is time for that annual look at How hemlines and the National financial state Rise and fall together. Pantsuits or no Short skirts will prevail in 1969 and the a stars and stripes Mary editor tinal income is Likely to stay at a record High too. Actually the pants look to feminine fashions has been around since the 1850s when Amelia Bloomer donned voluminous version of trousers and urged other women to do likewise Asa protest calling for social reforms and women s rights. In the 1890s, Wom if new fashions of Rudi Gernreich Are any indication the Economy for 69 May climb but Stock Market shows a Bareish trend. Black crepe dres from new York Jiow promises minis will stay. Pants ensemble. A protest in put on divided skirts to wheel off on bicycles. Marlene Dietrich set off a tailored trousers style wave in the1930s. Now pants pervade almost every Spring collection showing up for women s sportswear or Street for at Home and even for formal evenings. Are the new pants a fashion or put on one company which does an annual took at Hemline lengths in com Parison with the Gross National product finds that pants Are High fashion answer to placards protests and doing your own thing " they represent Young people March ing to a different drummer and they Are expected to leave daytime skirt lengths unchanged during i960," neither the Midi nor the Maxi both Well be Low the Knees caught on with a grand sweep of women s wardrobes either. So like High hemlines look for High income in 69, too. The parallel Between fashion and finance comes from the h. W. Gossard co., manufacturer of intimate apparel which traces the link As far Back 39 1ww.take 1900. The National income was 120 billion and skirt lengths covered the Ankles. The panic of 1907 caused then to sweep the floor but they Aneth Economy recovered and kept climb ing. Recession after world War  skirts slightly but then both income and hemlines  1926, total income had reached $76.6 billion. It was the Era of the Flap per. Ownen skirts bared the  great depression of the 1930s dropped income sharply it plunged to$40.2 billion in 193s. Hemlines c a m c Down to mid calf or a few inches lower then moved upward again gradually through the 1940s and into world War ii As the National Economy also gained. B when air conditioned Cotton Tec pants suit thawed up nobody worried any More about the Economy. Came the end of the War and the end of government restrictions on us of fabric and the late Christian dior in 1947, led the world into the new look with feminine curves to clothes tiny waistlines and great fullness in the skirts Down to midcalf in this Case however the National income was a exception u climbed steadily. And it has done so for the last two decades. So Tave skirts. In 1959, for instance who the income broke $400billon for tic first time hemlines climbed an Inch. By 1961, skirts were shortened to the Point where fashion observers were saying they looked like something shrank in the Wash. Income reached $426.9 billion. But the Rise i both the fashion and financial worlds was Only  1965, the bared knee styles inspired largely by Paris Andre Cour Reges were catching on and National income went up to 582.4  1967. The miniskirt and the Mam Moth National purse of $650 billion Werea Well paired twosome National in come for 1968 represents a three percent gain Over 1187, when the rising to living has been discounted. A�99, skirt lengths will remain High economic barometer continues hold True and the National income will Inch toward the 735 billion Mark