Happy hours
Half-priced fajitas and margaritas? No way. Thanks to the recession, chic restaurants such as Cube on La Brea and Riva in Santa Monica now offer early bird food-and-drink specials for the pre-dinner set. Nobu West Hollywood's bar and lounge serves tapas such as Wagyu beef with foie gras gyoza for under $12 after 8 p.m. At the Edison downtown on Friday nights, you can get 35-cent gin or bourbon cocktails and free grilled cheese with tomato soup. Might we suggest a new label for a frugal foodie: the gastronista?
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Online sample-sale sites
Gilt, Hautelook, Ideeli and TopSecret.com -- new online sample-sale sites are cropping up at lightning speed, promising "insider only" bargains on items such as Judith Ripka fine jewelry and Habitual jeans.
These sales are anonymous, meaning that shoppers don't have to feel guilty about spending. And they also offer good prices and value, says Marshal Cohen, chief industry analyst for market research firm NPD Group. The downturn in the economy has led to massive excess inventories.
"This is the one area of retail that will find enthused consumers and be a growth source for designers and manufacturers as they try to move canceled merchandise and keep their factories busy producing product," he said.
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'Confessions of a Shopaholic'
Adapted from Sophie Kinsella's successful chick-lit "Shopaholic" book series, the film version of "Confessions of a Shopaholic" opens Feb. 13. And it could be the fashion hit, or the fashion flop, of the year, depending on how viewers see the film's brand-obsessed heroine.
The plot? Rebecca Bloomwood (Isla Fisher) moves to Manhattan post-college to nurture her shopping addiction and get involved in the glossy magazine world. Though she's up to her eyeballs in debt (something we can certainly relate to now more than when the film began production in early 2008), she becomes a financial-advice columnist and, lucky for her, falls for a wealthy entrepreneur.
Naturally, Patricia Field of "Sex and the City" and "The Devil Wears Prada" fame is doing the costumes. We can't wait to see what she comes up with.
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Thrift
"Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without," was the mantra of the post-Depression set, and a modern-day version is likely to be the 2009 rallying cry -- what "eco-friendly" was for 2008 -- even after the economy comes back to life. If there's a "dollar-saved" equivalent to the carbon-offset credit, expect that to be the next metric by which we'll all be judged. Conspicuous consumption in the form of wearing a status watch or carrying a luxe handbag will be as gauche as driving a Cadillac Escalade in a gas crisis.
