These lifestyle changes and beer budgets have been prompted by a sudden loss of income, which is being experienced by a rising number of Americans, including the 11.6 million, or 7.6 percent, unemployed in January. That's 4.1 million more people than there were without steady work in 2007. Unemployment is expected to climb for February.

Gerzema's ex-banker friends derived 80 percent of their income from bonuses, which last year were just 10 percent the size of those they received in 2007. "Lower confidence is affecting everyone, not just the aspirational shopper," he said.

Even as the economy is unraveling, the Luxury Council's Furman said "connoisseurship" is on the rise, particularly among wealthy Baby Boomers who are becoming more "inquisitive" and "authoritative" about what makes high-end products superior and distinctive. "What keeps luxury CEOs up at night?" said Furman, a former marketing executive at Bergdorf Goodman and the New York Stock Exchange. "Educating their best customers: Why does good stuff cost so much?"

This year, their best customers in the U.S. are to be found in the 2.25 million households with annual incomes of $250,000 or more, experts said. That's about 2 percent of the country's 117 million households.

Brand and product image, the traditional basis of luxury goods marketing, aren't as likely to trigger many purchases. "Image alone is a canard," Furman said. "It's a fake promise and it will be found out by the consumer."

The well-heeled are seeking a sense of connection between the world in which they live and the premium brands they consume, marking a departure from the longtime sensibility of detachment and superiority to which many luxury brands have played, marketing experts said. It's starting to manifest in a growing desire to know more about brands, such as how products are sourced or what a company is doing as a corporate citizen.

The home is becoming a focal point for luxury consumption as people spend more time there. The rising value of moderation recalls the post 9/11 "remorse factor" Americans experienced during 2001 and 2002, although this time it extends beyond the public's psyche to their personal finances, said Tom Julian, president of Tom Julian Group.

Brands gaining in strength and stature, based on the Tom Julian/Y&R sample of 16,000 Americans whose annual income ranges between about $100,000 and $500,000 include Viking appliances, W Hotels, Tag Heuer, Bulgari, and Four Seasons Hotels. The potential of the goods and services of such brands to bring people together or enable a sense of escape figured into consumers' view of them as "relevant" and worthy of "esteem," according to the luxury study.

For now, it appears the country's top wage-earners are drawing much of luxury's meaning from the word's Latin root, luxus, or excess. Marketing consultant Richard Baker, chief executive officer of Premium Knowledge Group, which tracks residents of the 600 most affluent U.S. zip-code areas, where households have average annual income of $546,000 and assets of $6.5 million, said the wealthy are becoming "socially sensitive about how they're being seen."

Recalling a conversation with a financier in February, Baker said: "He was considering a purchase—a Bentley—and he avoided buying it, as he's in a company that just laid off people."