The Princess Buy

In Consumed: Tiaras: The quinceañera gains in visibility, and an old tradition creates a new market.

The tradition of the quinceañera, a social and religious celebration of a girl’s transition to womanhood upon her 15th birthday, is believed to date back to precolonial Spain. It traveled the Atlantic and took root throughout what came to be known as Latin America. Today the practice is increasingly popular and well known in the United States. You can find cultural indicators of this, like the recent melodrama set against the gentrification of Echo Park in Los Angeles, “Quinceañera,” which won the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival. And you can find business indicators too: from the existence of Quince Girl magazine and the inclusion of quince-related material in magazines like CosmoGirl! to the fact that big retail chains like David’s Bridal, with 250 stores, now market to the quinceañera consumer directly….

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