Angela Ricci is shopping for lacy tops, ruffled skirts and floral dresses to wear when she begins her senior year of high school in Pittsburgh. One thing she won’t be buying: jeans.
“I want to show a new kind of style and make a better impression,” said Ricci, 17. “I think that my generation is inspired to dress up a little more.”
Teens like Ricci are following the example of television shows such as “Gossip Girl” — in which actress Blake Lively prances to class in couture — as they head to stores to stock up for the new school year. Retailers, stung by slowing sales growth and record cotton costs, are obliging with blouses and dresses that sell for higher prices. Spending on clothing and shoes in the back-to-school season, the second-largest sales period of the year for retailers, may rise to $28.8 billion in the United States, up 3.6 percent from $27.8 billion a year earlier, according to the New York-based International Council of Shopping Centers. The Associated Press
