Says Newsweek's Johnnie L. Roberts:

Unofficially, profligacy became passé on Oct. 6, when disgraced Lehman Brothers CEO Richard Fuld appeared at a congressional hearing after the firm's historic $600-billion bankruptcy. He encountered a blizzard of scorn over his half-billion-dollar compensation and baronial lifestyle: a $21 million Park Avenue penthouse, a $25 million estate in Greenwich, Conn., and an estimated $200 million art collection.

Since then, we've seen Vogue slumming it at Wal-Mart and luxury ad numbers drop.

It seems like even if the uberwealthy are not personally suffering, it's now in poor taste to flaunt what you've got. Call it conspicuous austerity: a newfound sensitivity has made restraint temporarily chic. And not all luxury brands can keep up: according to the New York Times,Time Style and Design, which closed before the economic downturn, now feels anachronistically tone-deaf as the totaled items "would cost more than $51 million, or about 340 times the annual income of its average reader." As one woman told The Guardian, "now, when someone admires my dress, I never say it is by Balenciaga or Bottega Veneta. I tell them it's an old Phillip Lim. This neatly conveys the message that, just like everybody else, I've cut back on shopping and am happy to wear something by a modest label." And according to the article, luxury goods makers are taking different tacks: "highlighting heirloom appeal, ", "cultivating a guilt-free image" by teaming up with charities, or allowing secret splurging with sites like Gilt.com, that send purchases in unmarked brown boxes. Says The Guardian article, "the web offers the perfect opportunity for a new breed of 'stealth shoppers', embarrassed about flaunting their wealth, or what is left of it."

While asceticism is a reality for most of the world right now, it seems unlikely that everyone with riches of this magnitude will be able to maintain such a low profile after the novelty really wears off: empathy has its limits, after all - that or the luxury industry will get wily enough to get around peoples' guilt altogether. The Depression, as we know, saw some of the starkest contrasts the country has ever known, and historically speaking, great poverty has never dampened the relative pleasures of money much. If restraint is in with people who can afford it, well, they can afford to get tired of it in a year, too - which is probably what the $175-billion global luxury market is counting on.

Luxury Shame [Newsweek]
Celebrating Luxury In The Time Of Melancholia [New York Times]
Stealth Shoppers Shun Stores And Splash Out On Luxuries Online [The Guardian]

Obviously, this is an oxymoron; a "luxury" is nonessential. But the concept does raise ideas about what special things make the difference between treating yourself and being sensible. It's a fine line, too: even someone who hasn't denied himself much can probably find that he does without 90% of those pleasures he considered "essential" before. But it's pretty well-documented that overdoing it — like crash dieting — can be a false economy. As we all look at what we need, and don't, it's interesting to see what we decide makes us happy — and putting a price tag on it.

Anna, for her part, budgets for daily lattes and one nice dinner a month. Megan will skimp on everything but highlighting her hair, pasta with a low glycemic index, and good wine. Jessica hangs onto her car (a luxury in New York). Dodai's glamorous luxuries are the three C's: cashmere, cocktails and cabs. As to me, besides Pearl tampons, I've found I'm willing to cut out a lot to hold onto the expensive curly-haired non-shampoo that keeps my hair manageable, whole-milk yogurt, and name-brand meds. One person's luxury is not another's. This can of course get touchy when your "essential luxuries" don't mesh with those of someone with whom you share a budget — not, I guess, as much of an issue for the celebs in the magazine — but in general, one small up-side to any financial trouble is re-learning to appreciate. When times were leaner growing up, I remember that my mom made a point of always getting fresh juice oranges. My grandmother tells me that during the depression, she and her siblings would save to buy their mother some of her favorite candy, to keep up morale and a sense of normalcy. Even thinking about "essential luxuries" is of course one of the greatest luxury of all — and maybe one of the essentials?

Necessary Luxuries [Departures]

We'll be adding up all of the totals from all of the major September mags (Elle, Vogue, Bazaar, Lucky, Glamour, Marie Claire, W, and Allure) into one whopping sum. (So far, Elle's Total Shit: $1,562,100 and Vogue's Total Shit: $957,687.)

The reader who can predict the final total dollar amount — without going over — will win a $200 donation to the charity of her or his choice. You may submit your guesses in the comments, and you have until 12 noon tomorrow, EDT.

Good luck, and remember: Mink. Dipped in gold.

Earlier: September Smackdown: Elle Vs. Vogue

Her determination about this endeavor, and the obvious joy she took in the knockoff Bottega's acquisition, quite disturbed a pretty friend of mine who was also on the press trip. It was so shallow! But fast forward two years, and said pretty friend shows up to meet me toting...a Bottega Veneta! What happened? Below, an exclusive interview with said friend as to how she learned to stop worrying and love conspicuous consumption.

MOE: You! I have to consult you about something. And that something is...your handbag.
  Your anonymity will be closely guarded.
 
PRETTYFRIEND: um, ok. go

MOE: Is it Bottega?

PRETTYFRIEND: ha! i'm glad you think that. i got it for $20 off the street before i went to barcelona in the fall. hahahahaha!
take that [PUBLICIST] "hong kkong" [PUBLICIST]

MOE: The thing that's so funny about this story is how it's like, "Bottega is all about understated logo free design."
And I'm thinking, if it gets knocked off, it is a fucking logo.

PRETTYFRIEND: "Instead of buying a $1,500 handbag that may be indistinguishable from versions selling for one tenth of the price, they may part with several thousand dollars for a piece that looks durable and worth the splurge."
ha!

MOE: I just don't understand, after a certain age, why you would buy something so that...people would know you spent a lot of money on it.

PRETTYFRIEND: isn't that mostly with the upwardly mobile middle class? like the black guy that has to get rims on his car because he lives in a neighborhood where that is necessary blah blah blah
with women, it's mostly handbags, shoes and sun glasses. god, sunglasses. when did they start selling for $600?

MOE: oh. my. god. serioulsy.
  SUNGLASSES
  THAT IS A POST.
  WTF SUNGLASSES?

PRETTYFRIEND: that is DEFINITELY a post
 
MOE: THE MARGIN ON SUNGLASSES MUST BE LIKE 99.999999%
 
PRETTYFRIEND: because even the cheap-o brands have their names on teh side so you immediately know NOT GUCCI

MOE: ok but here's the thing, the people who get rims are usually not middle class ...they are more like...what became of the middle class.

PRETTYFRIEND: true. maybe a better example are women and ridiculous shoes. i mean to a certain extent a black patent leather pump is just a black patent leather pump, right? unless it's a christian loubitan and then it's an $800 pump which also happens to have a read sole
  red sole

MOE: Right, but why do middle and upper-middle class educated professional women fall prey to the same silly forces we associate with the rims-weilding lumpen?
  rims-rolling, excuse me.
  And all this shit starts with the plutocracy anyway.
I suppose Toqueville could answer that. sigh american exceptionslism long sigh

PRETTYFRIEND: wait, i have to run. but i just want to say that i do own ridiculous shoes — and not just because one of my lesbian friends works at saks and could get me a 65% discount. i own them because i am in a group of friends where everyone owns them
  and they make my calves look fecking fantastic
and yes, when i get too drunk i start smoking
i am that girl
sigh

MOE: i love you

You'll Know How Much You Spent [NY Times]

Case History [Style.com]
Apple 2.o: The iPhone Nano Saga [Business 2.0]

Style Notes: The Marrying Kind [Style.com]