Short or long? It’s not about the stock market this week. It’s all about hemlines. The festivities related to President Bush’s second inauguration get under way tonight – most notably with the hot-ticket Black Tie and Boots Ball. And from what Washington fashion retailers say, the gowns this week will be glamorous skin-exposing numbers topped with fur and skimming the floors.

“They don’t ask for a dress for the inauguration. They ask for a ball gown,” said Patti Cumming, a spokeswoman for Neiman Marcus, within Mazza Gallerie. “This year, there’s a lot of glamour, glitz, and going over the top with accessories and embellishments.”

At Rizik’s – a high-end downtown boutique that sells the likes of Oscar de la Renta and Bill Blass – evening wear expert Sue Ellen Lewis agrees: “They’re all going long.”

The most popular-selling looks, she finds, are “very bare, off the shoulder or strapless. And they’re colorful: “shades of burgundy, claret, and deep pink” sold briskly.

Even among the trendy girls about town, the word is “full-length.”

“Definitely longer. I’m surprised,” said the owner of the Georgetown shoe and accessories boutique Sassanova, Sarah Cannova. Her au courant shop has contributed to the goodie bags at the late night Green Room party – the hot place to be after the Black Tie and Boots Ball. She has seen a spike in sales of brightly colored, metallic, or ornamented shoes that can peak out from under a long skirt. “Gold ballet shoes and metallics are doing well,” she said.

Accessories like capelets or shrugs (which are small fur wraps) that can top off a bare-shouldered dress are popular, too. “I’m selling a lot of classic glamour. Everyone’s really inspired by seeing the award shows,” said Ms. Cannova.

But taking cues from red-carpet celebs is a major mistake in Washington this time of year, according to manners expert and former White House social secretary Letitia Baldrige.

“When you go to a real ball, you wear a ball gown. But these are mob scenes,” she said. “I’m afraid that women will be wearing dresses with trains, like at the Golden Globes. Someone will step on it. It’s going to be ripped right off – and who knows how much off the back.”

In the past though, anything but a long dress was a no-no. “It’s just a custom. It used to be considered very second-rate to appear in a short evening dress,” she said.

But now the in-crowd knows better that to show up in their finest. “Those who’ve been to inaugurals before know that the balls are jammed with people, spilling everything all over you,” said Ms. Baldrige.

All the more reason to bring out that short fur coat. And the fur, indeed will be flying this week. The weather forecast for Washington, D.C., this week is bitterly cold. With predictions of snow and 30-degree temperatures, expect to see the ladies taking advantage of pelts, old and new.

“They’re going to the closets fur coats. If they’re buying new coats, they’re buying long coats,” said Neiman Marcus’s Ms. Cumming.

But that’s not all. “The shrug was a really strong part of fall. It really is the perfect thing if you’re sitting around and there’s a draft,” she said. “We’ve shown quite a bit of those.”

“We always have an up-tick around an inauguration,” said Manny Miller, president of Miller Furs.

His sales have been strong in short fur coats, stoles, and capelets. And it’s the sexy design of small fur pieces that is the draw, rather than any specific kind of fur. There are, however, some popular varieties: “In the short pieces, its mink, fox, and sable,” said Mr. Miller.

Ms. Lewis, of Rizik’s, notices the same: “They’re buying capelets in sheared mink.”

Though fur can keep the shoulders warm, the problem with the cold is really keeping the feet and legs warm. Long dresses help, but the trend toward bare legs just doesn’t work in frigid temperatures.

Even a pair of sheer stockings are better than nothing. And do they have added benefits. “Sheers give you beautiful, even shading. A hit of shimmer will thin the look of your legs,” said Kym Harris, spokesperson for the luxury leg-wear label Wolford. “It finishes the look.”

And with the weather that’s expected in Washington, it’s enough to trust her when she says: “Sheers are making a comeback.”