An article in yesterday’s New York Times cited the length of hemlines as a barometer for economic strength. According to the piece, Wall Street watchers could have predicted the current economic downturn if they had only taken note of the long, flowy skirts featured on fashion runways last fall. Throughout history, when the economy is tanking, women’s hemlines have dropped along with it. The economy was flourishing during the mini-skirted sixties. During the stagflation of the 1970s, long prairie skirts came in vogue, and in the midst of the nineties bull market, short babydoll dresses were all the rage. So if you want to know where the economy is headed, you can either listen to the speeches of Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke, who said yesterday that inflation was too high and that the economy faces a “difficult period;” or sift through the pages of US Weekly, where Angelina Jolie can be seen sporting flowing, to-the-floor tunics. Who knew that fashionistas could be so in sync with the Fed?