Now's a good time to buy a yacht

It's hard not to notice that we are in the grip of recession - depression, if you believe the real doom-mongers. But as homeowners anxiously calculate the effect of interest rates on mortgage repayments and food prices soar, feel sorry for those bearing the worst of the brunt. Those 'champagne and caviar' corporate types, who once had it so good, are having to cut back.

Fortune (April 14) carries a (we hope) tongue-in-cheek report on The Luxury Recession. At Pilates on Fifth in Midtown Manhattan, for example, clients are foregoing $90 private lessons for cheaper group classes. Steak restaurants say diners are shunning prime cuts for lower grade meat, while in Fort Lauderdale, yacht sales are down 50 per cent - causing prices to drop by as much as a fifth.

Trust those hardy fashion types to find a diamante lining amid a cloud of economic doom. Belt tightening is in, we're told - and not just because steak dinners are out, reports Time (April 14). No, we're talking "recession chic", a more sombre mode of attire that rears its sobre head in times of financial hardship.

"Just as the world's financial markets are experiencing a serious mood swing, from exuberance to gloominess, so too is fashion," the writer states earnestly.

So what is recession chic? Well, floral prints are out, while severe silhouettes and dark palettes (yes, black is the new black) are in. Recession chic has historical precedence, too - in the 1920s, flapper hemlines "bounced giddily to the knee" in a decade of economic boom before crashing down to the ankles - along with the rest of Wall Street and most of America - in the Great Depression of the 1930s. 

Another thing to worry about once you've paid your mortgage, then.

(Picture: ring by Tom Binns)