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]

Hot: Beans
Not: Lettuce
People spring for non-perishables when pinching pennies.


Hot: Tall, bony hags
Not: Waifish Lolitas
According to Playboys through the years, older, less curvaceous pinups appeal to men looking for a capable partner to till the fields.


Hot: Slow, Thoughtful Songs
Not: Bubblegum Pop
It should be noted that Britney Spears' "Womanizer" is currently the #1 single.


Hot: Laxatives
Not: Deodorant
People are stressed out in times of economic hardship, which apparently means constipation. But they don't dance as much, rendering deodorant unnecessary!


Hot: Beer
Not: Soda.
Nuff said.


Hot: Short Crops
Not: Flowing Manes
But doesn't short hair need to be trimmed more often? Maybe this is the result of disastrous at-home haircuts, undertaken during misguided fits of frugality, which are then beyond redemption.


Hot: Family Values
Not: Eating out.
The family dinners induced by straitened circs are good for bonding.


Hot: Grad School
Not: Tobacco.


Hot:Suicide
Not: Um...good mental health?
So far just a few isolated deaths have been reported as a direct result of the markets, but overall suicide rates rise (not shockingly) in difficult times.


Hot: Property Crime
Not: Violent Crime
Rumors to the contrary, apparently there's no documented correlation between the economic woes and violent crime. (Guess 1970s New York was an outlier.) However, there is a noticeable increase in petty property crime, idle hands being the devil's playground, etc.

The Hemline Index, Updated [New York Times]

Buy Cheap Shit: Buying less expensive stuff seems to have come as a revelation to a lot of people. Like, surprise! There are generics! And bulk prices! And cheap stores like Target! And they make stuff! And you can buy it! And it's kind of like expensive stuff but it's cheaper!

Buy Old Shit:Did you realize that there are actually places where you can buy things that aren't new? I know, this is Big. It may gross you out - this is a recurring meme - but sometimes you can find really awesome things at places like "thrift stores." And "consignment stores." And on "eBay." And via "swaps." (Swaps are very big right now.) And sometimes the old things? Are different from the things you can find in new stores!

You Don't Need To Own Everything! Okay, brace yourselves. There are these things called libraries where you can get books for free. They even have music! And movies! You know what else you can do? Borrow stuff from other people and then give it back.

Don't Buy Stuff You Don't Need: Hard to grasp, I know. But if you think about what to buy, you apparently spend less.

Make StuffThere are many earnest tips about cooking your own food instead of going to restaurants. It is cheaper, you see. Apparently you can also sew on your own buttons and iron stuff instead of getting it dry-cleaned.

Do Less of Expensive Stuff:We know, we know: it's really hard to not take cabs everywhere and not get weekly pedicures and facials and buy high heels. Because we want to, and we don't like to not get stuff we want! But the thing is, that stuff is apparently very expensive and - wait for it - not essential.

Get Crappy, Small Amounts of Expensive Stuff :This kind of thing is really big on these lists. Like, going to expensive restaurants but then just ordering an appetizer or something. Or not ordering wine. Half of the alleged "cheap eats" issues are just this kind of crumminess, which sounds like a recipe for a)hunger and b)depression. Also big: getting free services from, like, massage schools and beauty academies. As someone who has done this a lot, it's seriously no substitute for the real thing.

Be Crafty:Suddenly everybody's really into the novelty of coupon-clipping, and getting airfare deals and early bird specials and various other schemes that seem to take a lot of time and sound like awesome ideas to various rich editors who don't need to do them.

Pretend Being Broke Is Really Fun: Swaps, various at-home functions and girls' nights in are another popular bromide. For those of us who don't go out, sure. I'm guessing the Cosmo brigade whose weekends consist of some SATC club marathon aren't going to really find an evening of Scrabble and Netflix an acceptable substitute. Wait, what am I saying? Those dames don't buy their own drinks!

Don't Be A Moron: Basically, all of these tips can fit under this heading. "Live the way most of us do already" would be another good one. But since we all really enjoy frugality tips from rich people, please, keep patronizing us. It's a form of free entertainment we've been onto for years!

Meanwhile, John and Ann Till financed their honeymoon by gathering and recycling more than 60,000 bottles and cans. 'It did raise a smile when we were in business class on the flight back to Gatwick to think that the litter louts of Petersfield had paid for the pleasure,' says the groom.

As someone dealing with the hassle of planning a wedding under financial duress, I can understand not wanting to compromise. And you have to applaud this kind of crafty thrift. That said, were I that enterprising I would be a)probably better able to afford a wedding in the first place and b)probably put the spoils towards buying an apartment or something. I'm firmly on record in my belief that wedding-bashing is an easy past-time that should really fall under the banner of "personal choice." And who can begrudge anyone the big day they want, especially when they put this much blood, sweat and tears into achieving it? After all, these folks are not tossing around hundreds of thousands of dollars or browbeating a hapless wedding planner.

What's odd about it, though, is it's exactly as though they had: they're essentially doing a DIY dream wedding such as those dreamed up, promoted and pressured by the Wedding Industry. Whereas normally one thinks of a homemade, labor-driven wedding as being a homey, idiosyncratic, pitch-in and somewhat unpolished affair, this one from the description sounds like a wedding-planner's dream. The need for all the trappings is still there - the illusion of status while apparently taking an understandable and vocal pride in the very hard work that achieved it. The irony of the situation - triumph or defeat for the Wedding Industry? - is nothing if not thought-provoking.

Philosophical qualms aside, these couples' inventiveness is, in a sense, inspirational to those of us resigned to city hall. Whereas I'm guessing no one wants me writing epigrams or impersonating Lotte Lenya in return for free champagne, reading this actually in a weird way did make me feel way better about the makeshift affair we've envisioned. More to the point, with all the theoretical stupid recession advice we're being inundated with - Today had a whole segment on bartering, renting and borrowing today - it's encouraging to see the can-do in action. That said, Recycling can have my cans; I'd rather staycation, thanks.

Couple Recycle Tonnes of Litter for Honeymoon[Metro]
Dan and Gemma Scott Saved Thousands of Pounds on Their Wedding by Bartering[Telegraph]

This contrast is really stark when you consider the 50 or so 19th-century Native American garments currently on display in at New York's National Museum of the American Indian. The woman who wore these, as the NY Times puts it, "could tell you exactly who had hunted the animals from which her dress was taken. She would know who had tanned the hides, stitched them together and sewed hundreds of beads onto them, and what the pattern of those beads signified." And they could tell us a lot about how to handle a recession.

The wealth of history and biography woven into each of these dresses is amazing: the implicit trajectories of colonization and changed hunting patterns, the changes in materials, inclusion of new ones and ingenious substitutes for once-plentiful decorations. The eyeteeth of an elk were "a way for women to show off the hunting skills of male family members. New brides often wore dresses made by their mothers-in-law and adorned with elk teeth collected by their husbands over many years." Italian glass beads or woolen fabrics showed the influence of European traders. Perhaps most fascinating are the tangible and valiant attempts to keep culture alive under the threat of extinction, as in the prevalent use of American flag imagery in many of the Sioux dresses. "On the reservation, Indian ceremonies (banned by the government) were replaced by Fourth of July festivities and other patriotic celebrations," but using these motifs on traditional garments was a subversive means of bridging the gap. The use of traditional motifs in clothing was also a means of silently evoking the "ghost dances," which were banned because the government felt they evoked massacres like Wounded Knee.

In sum, writer Karen Rosenberg concludes that "it’s hard to find a better example of art, labor, storytelling and female bonding" than this exhibition. I'd add that it would be hard to find anything more relevant to current discussions of the cultural ravages of fast fashion and, even more aptly, the nascent "slow fashion" movement. We've talked a blue streak about the human and environmental costs of fast fashion juggernauts like Forever21, as well as the cultural erosion it's helped precipitate - never have we valued things or quality so little, while paradoxically been so steeped in unwholesome materialism. In this sense, the current economic challenges could hopefully provide, if not a silver lining, at least the necessity of reevaluating our priorities.

So far, slow fashion is a tiny movement — far from the natural, traditional evolution of the garments featured in Inwood, the attempt to create small-batch cottage industries from fair trade materials can feel forced and somewhat twee. Much as local and organic eating is only beginning to shake off the stigma of yuppie luxury and become a slowly-growing cultural norm, so too must clothing with a provenance. However, the movement can also be a boon for small, old-fashioned industries — the Guardian mentions a new interest in traditional, hand-woven Scottish tartans and hand-made shoes - especially since the quality of such things usually qualifies them as those hot-button recession justifications, "investments." Anyone who has ever worn something homemade, however crummy-looking, knows how much more valuable it feels than something bought for $12 on a lunch break. Even a particularly exciting thrift-store find feels more special for the work invested. Slow fashion is obviously a virtuous enterprise, but the slight taint of self-righteousness it carries is worth it; like eating a really good heirloom tomato. We are not conditioned to save and invest and buy investment pieces — we are too conditioned for easy gratification, me and my eBay habit probably as much as anyone — which is why something like this exhibit is such an excellent shot in the anonymously-clothed arm.

In Tribal Dresses, Life Stories, Intricate Labor and Female Bonding[New York Times]