Apparently, the recovery is
all about prints. They're audacious, they're exotic, they're vibrant; they're everything a depressed economy needs.
Beth Buccini, the owner of a SoHo boutique, credits
prints for a 12% increase in store sales in the last three months over the same period a year ago.
She, and others, think the particularly stark hunger for color and pattern this season has everything to do with
frugal fatigue, and the pent-up demand of a recession hangover.
“People are sick of not shopping," she is quoted as saying in a recent New York Times article. "After such a miserable winter, and an even more miserable economy, people want a little joy in their lives.”
Well, there's only one place joy comes from, and it is from European designers with hard-to-pronounce names. The prints at Barneys New York will "make you feel alive,” says the store’s fashion director. Never mind if you have to die of starvation in order to afford them.
Cruises have long been popular with honeymooners looking for a romantic getaway after the wedding. Now, a growing number of brides and grooms are tying the knot on cruise ships and sailing off into the sunset with their entire wedding party in tow. 
