Jan 27, 2009

The wealthy turn stealthy as economy weakensBy John RogersGoogle.com

Beverly Hills, CA — Throwing your money around is so pre-recession.

As the economy weakens, the wealthy and the businesses that cater to them say it’s more common — even chic — to scale back extravagant spending and play down affluence. Retailing experts call it luxury shame, or stealth wealth.

From Rodeo Drive to Fifth Avenue, that means one thing: Hide the labels.

Some shoppers are asking cashiers at high-end stores to put their purchases in plain white paper bags. Others want their expensive clothes and jewelry shipped home so they can walk out of the store without any bags at all.

“There’s a sense of there being a gaucheness in spending in excess and coming home with a Louis Vuitton or Chanel bag,” says Lucyann Barry, a personal shopper and stylist for New York’s ultra-rich.

For one self-conscious client, Barry recently delivered a $1,200 Gucci handbag disguised as a gift so the rest of her family wouldn’t know she had bought it herself.

Of course, plenty of rich people have become decidedly less so as stocks, homes and businesses have declined in value during the recession. And they’re cutting back. Holiday sales were down at Neiman Marcus, Tiffany & Co. and Saks Fifth Avenue.

Despite the slump, the affluent still maintain lifestyles that would seem extravagant to the vast majority of Americans — hundreds of dollars spent at exclusive restaurants, thousands dropped on shopping sprees.

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