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No More Bling? Even the Jet Set Feels the Pinch

Luxury execs are sitting tight for the most part, while jet set wonders what's appropriate

By Harry Kimball, Newser Staff

Posted Oct 9, 2008 7:04 PM CDT

(Newser) – Not even the super-rich are immune to the present crisis, prompting Christina Binkley to wonder in the Wall Street Journal: "Is this the end of bling?" In a word, maybe. The world, of course, will always have rich people, but they may not want to flaunt it as much amid all this "anti-wealth sentiment."

"It's not necessarily a good thing to show up at the tennis club with a new $30,000 crocodile handbag when your friends' net worth has been halved,” Binkley writes. That, in turn, could hurt those who sell luxury goods. Said a rep for high-end retailer Bergdorf Goodman: "We're sharpening our pencils." Is that too little, too late? On a recent trip to Paris, Binkley "raced from one grand new store opening to another, feeling vaguely as though we were all fiddling while Rome burned.”

[Images (6)]

[Quotes (2)]

Shoppers leave Saks Fifth Avenue in New York. (AP Photo)

An associate at a luxury clothing store looks at Italian-made suits. (AP Photo)

A Tiffany & Co. store. (AP Photo)

The Monaco Yacht Show. (AP Photo)

A luxury yacht owned by a Russian billionaire. (AP Photo)

Part of $ 1.5 billion resort in Jumeira Palm Island in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. (AP Photo)

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My sense is that this Christmas is not going to be a successful one. The things that are happening are so big that it would be silly to assume they won't have an impact. - Francesco Trapani, Bulgari chief executive

Not even the richest people are feeling untouched by our current financial crisis. In their personal lives, as in business, the purveyors of luxury are sizing up what it all means. - Christina Binkley

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No More Bling? Even the Jet Set Feels the Pinch