I was skimming the headlines of the Nashua Telegraph this morning when I came across two stories which seem to indicate contradictory trends. The first, entitled "The Big Dance", is about all the money teens spend to go to the prom:
"Raquel Lucas is spending a small fortune on her senior prom. Her dress cost $250; her shoes were $100; and there was $60 for a bottle of Christian Dior’s J’adore, her favorite perfume. A trip to the beauty salon will cost $70, the limo is $50 a person, and it will cost $90 just to get in the door." Almost 20 million students will attend proms this year, with the average 17-year-old spending $638, or more than $1,200 a couple.
But just the day before the Telegraph was writing about how consignment shops have become such a big hit in a their story, "Consignment shops catch on with new generation":
In the 1980s, the idea of wearing a previously owned Izod gator polo shirt was enough to make Liz Claiborne or Christian Dior gag on a spoon. Now, it seems, youth fashion may have come full circle. Consignment clothes are cool again. “It is now chic to be thrifty,” says Cyndi Brodeur, owner of the First Class Second Hand Boutique at 115 Main St. in Nashua. “Sixty percent of our customers are from the younger generation.”