Financial crisis heralds era of 'new seriousness'

The $3 billion Westfield centre in West London, with a strong focus on luxury, opened on Thursday. Promotional material cites Louis Vuitton, Prada, Tiffany and Gucci among its stores but managing director Michael Gutman downplays these.

"We have a mass-market offer here, even though a couple of the precincts have attracted particular attention," he said by telephone.

Executives say other retailers are quietly dropping the term "luxury" from their marketing material in favour of phrases depicting shopping as relaxation and time shared with family and friends.

With credit harder to obtain, mortgage costs rising and unemployment growing in the US, Europe and Japan, clever advertising may not be enough to persuade those who can still afford it to part with their money.

"In grim times it becomes distasteful or simply unfashionable to spend money on conspicuous consumption," said Rory Sutherland, vice-chairman at advertising agency Ogilvy.

"There will be a trend towards Swedish, Lutheran-style minimalism," Mr Sutherland predicted, referring to the modest, even austere, lifestyles favoured by Lutherans and Swedes by reputation.

After years of strong growth, luxury goods sales are expected to fall globally by one per cent in the fourth quarter, and may drop by up to seven per cent next year, according to a study by consulting firm Bain and Co. released this month.

Some in the financial services industry who had previously enjoyed a luxury lifestyle say they are starting to question the relentless pursuit of material gain.

Henrietta Creighton, managing director at Lifestyle Boutique which provides luxury concierge services, said business had slowed compared with last year, but clients were still spending on family celebrations.

Family board games such as Scrabble, Trivial Pursuit and Monopoly were expected to be Christmas hits as families decided against expensive holidays, Brian Goldner, chief executive officer of toy maker Hasbro said.

"Perhaps after the last decades of conspicuous consumption and hollow celebrity culture we are entering what we might call an era of the new seriousness," he said in a talk on BBC radio. Greater focus on family and a rise in altruism and spirituality often coincided with downturns, said Nick Wills-Johnson, Research fellow, at Curtain University Business School's centre for applied economics in Sydney.