While hesitating about the chocolates at Harrods Food Halls, a sales assistant told me that scaled-down versions of the usual 200g boxes were available for the first time.
Three chocolates, approximately 20g, placed in little gold boxes with bows at £5 each. ‘Is this because everyone except me eats healthy?’ I moan. “It’s just the economics,” he shrugs.
Global sales of luxury goods fell 3.3 percent in November compared to a 2.6 percent increase in the same period in 2023. With the exception of the pandemic, sales of personal luxury items such as clothing , designer bags and watches have never been worse. the commercial value of the super rich.
I’m not surprised. In my corner of Kensington, the usually armored upper classes are scrambling for refuge after Labor raised taxes by a record £40bn. Government raids on tuition at elite private schools, inherited wealth and private jet travel mean the misery of billionaires is causing far more than just a few Etonians to complain about higher tuition fees. education of their children.
The effects have been felt especially at a time of year so associated with excess. In London, chauffeur-driven cars continue to circulate in Berkeley Square and white truffles are offered in Knightsbridge restaurants for £25 a gram.
Labor’s Sir Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves raised taxes by a record £40bn, with raids on elite private school fees, inherited wealth and private jet travel.
Inside the store, there is palpable nervousness. I recently attended a charity luncheon at Claridge’s. At £350 for three courses, it was fair to assume that my dining companions are on the wealthy end.
At my table was a former currency trader and ex-wife of a Russian businessman. She quickly confirmed my fears. “Don’t be surprised when the music stops,” he warns, “because it will stop.”
What does belt-tightening mean for someone like her, whose mortgage-free three-bedroom flat in Chelsea Barracks would sell for £8 million? You’ll never have to worry about rising interest rates wreaking havoc or having to sell the family farm to pay the inheritance tax owed.
It reminded me of the legend that arose around Queen Elizabeth II, who was said to walk around Buckingham Palace turning off the lights in unused rooms. There are times when thrift is necessary, even for the rich.
“On Sunday I taught my teenagers how to make a barbecue,” says my lunch companion. “I’ll make dinner on school nights, but they have to feed themselves for the two weekends a month they spend with me.”
She doesn’t seem upset about having to part with her private chef for a decade, even if her children are.
I don’t have the private chef problem, but I’m inclined to tell you where I started cutting fat. The gym, obviously!
Membership at the place I go to in Chelsea has a £1,000 joining fee; but then there’s the £650 monthly charge and £120 per hour for a private Pilates lesson. After canceling my membership, within an hour I received an offer to suspend it for a year. Could it be that too many people are canceling? And there are my bank-breaking beauty treatments. The first to leave? My laser facial treatments. Using radiofrequency and electromagnetic pulses promise better results than Botox.
However, at £2,500 for four (the recommended minimum for long-lasting results) they’re not entirely painless.

Charlotte recently attended a charity lunch at Claridge’s in London, where she paid £350 for three courses and a small display of virtue.

Charlotte skipped her laser facials this year. These use radiofrequency and electromagnetic pulses and promise better results than Botox. Although they cost £2,500 for four (the minimum recommended for long-lasting results), they are not entirely painless, she says (photo taken by models).
So this year I did it myself with a Lyma laser for £2000 and a Beauty Pie LED mask for £120. Sometimes you have to spend money to save.
Those with deeper pockets than mine are making even bigger cuts. My new friend at Claridge’s told me about an Instagram post by a businesswoman who has her initials on the license plate of her £240,000 Ferrari. Despite that, he spent the night before his daughter’s birthday painting props for her elaborate tablescape.
This is no cause for alarm unless you’re hosting themed dinners with a landscaper like Alice Naylor-Leyland (a celebrity favourite, who can charge £350 for a table for four).
Perhaps it’s no surprise that kitchen dinners are back in style. No formal dinners or exorbitant catering. This Twixmas, everyone will gather for a family meal.
I’ve been to one in North Kensington and one in Fulham, but the trend is being taken to the limit, as is the case with most things in the Boltons, the super-rich enclave of South Kensington.
The good news is that the meal is more substantial than a token plate of caviar over blinis.
Nigella Lawson’s buttermilk roast chicken or Yotam Ottolenghi’s baked rice are popular main dishes. But as one hostess joked, the roast pumpkin she served came from Waitrose and was “cheaper than crisps”.

Nigella Lawson’s buttermilk roast chicken is a popular main course for a dinner party in the kitchen at The Boltons, South Kensington’s super-rich enclave.
The most radical One Per Cent cost-cutting hack I’ve ever heard of is: Ozempic. In the poshest clubs, sparkling water has replaced the £26 Palomas Tequila as the drink of choice. Dinner ends with the second course, rather than a £320 Montecristo Sublime. It seems that even cigarette smoke is disgusting to those receiving weight loss injections.
Available on the NHS, these drugs are also sold in private clinics for up to £200 for a monthly supply, much less than the cost of a night out. I’m not surprised. The rich have always operated in a parallel universe.
This can be funny at times, but I won’t be laughing too hard. I’ve given up my membership at my Mayfair club… but I’m afraid I’ll soon have to ditch my £650 hair appointment every six weeks too!
- Charlotte Crawford is a pseudonym