Photo shows Kathy Johnson posing with an assort-ment of recycled dresses at her home in San Anselmo, California November 7, 2008. Johnson, who with her husband runs a tech advisory firm in the San Francisco Bay area, is recycling older dresses to save money and is joining other consumers across the U.S. who are cut-ting back spending amid a financial crisis.

圖中凱西．強森11月7日在她位於加州聖安塞摩的家中展示她所回收的五花八門禮服。強森夫婦在舊金山灣區經營一家科技顧問公司，他們加入全美其他在金融危機中大砍開支的消費者，展開省錢大作戰，回收舊禮服再製。

Last year at this time, Kathy Johnson and her hus-band traveled to London and Paris, where she spent about $2,000 on a shiny, red Louis Vuitton shoulder bag and a matching charm without much thought. This year Johnson said,"I'm thinking 'Maybe I'll just sneak in last year's dress and nobody will notice,' and I'll just ac-cessorize it a bit differently. I try to make it a little more about what I need on an everyday basis, rather than spending a bunch of money on something I'll just wear once or twice."

去年此時，凱西．強森和她丈夫到倫敦和巴黎，她還毫不猶豫花了大約2,000美元買一個閃閃發亮的紅色路易威登名牌肩背包及一個搭配的飾品。今年，強森說：「我在想『也許我將就點，偷偷穿上去年的禮服，可能沒有人會發現，』我可能會在配件上搞點花樣。我要多花點錢在日用品上，而不是花大錢在可能只會穿一兩次的衣飾上。」

Johnson's logic is likely to be played out across the country this season as U.S. consumers cut spending amid the worst financial crisis since the Great Depres-sion.

這個耶誕季，當美國面對自經濟大蕭條以來最嚴重的金融危機之際，消費者看緊荷包，刪減支出，強森這套理論可能風行全美。

That is terrible news to department stores, boutiques and apparel makers, who tend to get a boost when the fashion-conscious splurge on clothes for office holiday parties and New Year's festivities. U.S. retail chains just posted the worst October sales results in more than three decades, prompting the International Council of Shopping Centers to pare its already grim forecast for holiday season sales. It now expects November-De-cember sales to rise 1 percent, from a prior view of 1.7 percent. What is more, a recent survey found that one-fifth of U.S. businesses are not having 2008 holi-day parties.

這對百貨公司、精品店和服飾業者都是壞消息，他們多半靠對時尚敏感的消費者一擲千金，參加辦公室派對和新年慶祝活動拉抬業績。美國零售業者10月剛剛發布30多年來最糟的銷售業績，促使國際購物中心協會下修原本已經很慘淡的耶誕季預估銷售額，現在只希望11至12月銷售額可以微增1%，原本預估可以增加1.7%。 尤有甚者，最近一項調查發現，五分之一美國企業今年將不開派對。

According to the most recent poll by Wendy Lieb-mann, chief executive of consulting firm WSL Strategic Retail, which researches shopping trends, about 51 percent of women had bought second-hand clothes, and she expects that to increase as times get tougher and more people realize that some used clothing stores sell vintage designer dresses.

根據調查購物趨勢的WSL零售策略顧問公司執行長溫蒂．李伯曼最近的調查，約51%女人買二手衣，她並預期，隨著時機歹歹，人數會跟著增加，也會有更多人了解，有些舊衣店也賣高檔名牌禮服。