Have the Good Times Rolled -- Away?

But will it be enough? Some in the luxury industry worry that Americans may be making a permanent shift away from extravagance.

"Will we go back to our bad habits?" asked Maserati's Soriani. "That's the million-dollar question."

The recovery may happen differently for different types of luxury brands. "I think it's going to come back quickly for the restaurants," said Starr. "Restaurants are a social event. They will come back because people have to be social." But the recovery might be slower for retailers of luxury apparel and accessories. "The consumer is a million times more discerning and a million times smarter now," according to Thompson of Robert Burke Associates. "Consumers are starting to buy a lot less and [when] they do buy, they're more discriminating."

And the deep discounts at department stores may have permanently changed the public's views about high-end fashion, retailers said. Everyone is questioning how much things should really cost, Doroff noted. "You have intrinsic value and emotional value. A $5,000 Chanel suit could be worth $5,000 because it's Chanel. But is that piece of cloth worth $5,000? ... The discounting has led the customer to [wonder], 'Were those things really worth that much in the first place?'"