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.
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.
Tony Blair's globe-trotting farewell tour cost the taxpayer more than £750,000, Government figures revealed today.The Conservatives accused the former Prime Minister of a 'huge vanity tour' as he spent his final months in power burnishing his reputation at home and abroad.Mr Blair made nine overseas political visits between April and June last year when he finally quit Downing Street.
Tony Blair's globe-trotting farewell tour cost the taxpayer more than £750,000, Government figures revealed today.
The Conservatives accused the former Prime Minister of a 'huge vanity tour' as he spent his final months in power burnishing his reputation at home and abroad.
Mr Blair made nine overseas political visits between April and June last year when he finally quit Downing Street.
