日本时尚流行“低价风”
沪江口语资料“绝密版” 免费赠送活动进行中
Recession, what recession? Registers are on overdrive in UNIQLO, colorful, chic and cheap where 20 bucks buys a blouse. A few doors down a huge crowd outside another discounter H&M. But this isn't Japan's bargain boroughs; this is the hallowed halls of high-end Tokyo, known as Ginza.
A main company study says 12% of the world's luxury market is in Japan and Ginza is ground zero. This winter, the fashion industry is seeing a sea change.
"I'll buy it if I like it", says the shopper, "and if I can afford it." That's a mindset unheard of before.
The idea of "cheap chic" once made Japan's label lovers laugh, this neighborhood used to scoff at past recessions. High-end stores kept seeing gain busters business and young Ginza ayes mortgage everything they have for the latest handbag.
But along came this global economic slowdown. Top labels are suddenly seeing empty stores, designer duds out of style. Analysts expect Japan's 2008 luxury sales to decline by 7%. Sales are so bad that it came as no surprise when Louis Vuitton, Japan's most loved handbag maker cancelled plans to build a flagship store in Ginza.
But UNIQLO, once the bargain eyesore of glitzy Ginza, sales last November went up 32%, just as Japan slipped into recession.
"New Year price". This is what customers want, says UNIQLO store manager: inexpensive, fashionable and quality product."
"The biggest reason is the economy", says the fashion journalist Rie Miyata, "and unlike the past recession, this is global, towards some other parts of Asia and Europe, are staying home"
What's hip now? ---mixing cheap with luxury. "Nothing wrong." says today shopper, with clutching your Louis Vuitton while you buy a $10 T-shirt. Some luxury lovers may bemoan the loss of this exclusive real estate, but say, any sort of spending in this economy is better than nothing.
Kyung Lah, CNN, Tokyo.
词汇注解：
On overdrive: 过度超载
Discounter: 平价店 UNIQLO 和 H&M是两家著名的平价服饰店。
Ginza:银座，日本著名的商业区。
sea change: 彻底的改变
Ayes:赞成者。
Hip: 时尚。
