NEW Year's Eve may be a rather sober affair this year. Capping off a season of bad news, undoubtedly jewelry is no exception to it and champagne is the latest casualty of the recession, with sales on the decline over the past few months. After all, it's hard to make a toast when there is little to celebrate. The drop in demand for champagne keeps with the general trend of luxury good sales, which appear to be falling off of a cliff and have an impact on those who get involved in manufacturing jewelry cards. Just last week, the Wall Street Journal reported:

Luxury goods, once considered immune from economic turmoil, were hardest hit, with sales falling 21.2%, compared with a jump of 7.5% a year ago, when the economy had just begun to sputter. Including jewelry sales, the luxury sector plunged by a whopping 34.5%. Inevitably, those jewelry card suppliers are hit tremendously for they offer a wide range ofjewelry cards but with little market demand.

While some remain committed to preserving the lifestyle of the rich and famous, jewelry, once standing for luxury and elegance, now has to depreciate to cater for market demand. Besides, the depreciation of jewelry will seriously affect jewelry cards in bulk production and future prospect. But decadence largely seems to have fallen out of favour due to pragmatic reasons and a social stigma now attached to gross consumerism. The CEOs of Detroit's carmakers learned this the hard way after incurring public ire for flying private jets to beg for financial assistance. The wife of former Lehman Brothers CEO Richard Fuld is now stealth shopping, having extravagant purchases placed in unmarked bags in an attempt to avoid attention. Excess is out; frugality is chic; and the myth that luxury goods are recession-proof is officially debunked.