(continued)

Yes, they do, says Nick Leighton, host of Plum TV's weekly gossip roundup The Juice.

"First and foremost," he explains solemnly, "their entourages are much smaller."

When it comes to fashion and keeping up appearances, though, bling is still king. However, notes Leighton, "while it's the same amount of bling, it's just from last season. No one's wearing this season's bling." He adds, "If you're going to downscale, the Hamptons are about always keeping your polish. So instead of platinum, this year some of them are just doing gold."

Dave Ceva, owner of Solé East, a luxury hotel, bar, restaurant, and lounge in Montauk, agrees. "When it comes to our celebrity clientele, we haven't exactly seen much paring back," he laughs, adding, "they're still renting the most expensive rooms, and eating and drinking the most expensive things on the menu. Two weeks ago, one A-lister drank us out of every single bottle of champagne in the entire place."

Curiously, champagne seems to be one of the luxuries celebrities are most reluctant to part with. P. Diddy/Puffy/Sean Combs/whatever his moniker of the moment is showed up very late at Dune in Southampton over the Fourth of July weekend. It didn't matter that the sun was close to coming up—he still ordered numerous bottles of top-shelf champagne.

But not every celebrity is drinking away his or her economic woes. Katie Lee Joel (wife of Billy) says, "I think that people really like to talk about the recession, but I don't know how much people are actually cutting back out here [in the Hamptons]." She goes on to explain, "But it's funny, we're hearing so much about it that I think about it. I think when I go out, Do I really want to spend that?—even though I can afford it. It just doesn't feel right."