You can’t be too rich, as the saying goes. But if you’re a magazine publisher, it turns out that you can be too thin.

The style setters at Vogue are coping with that weighty problem as the fashion bible’s September 2009 issue is 298 ad pages lighter compared to the 4.5-pound tome it delivered two years ago.

As reported in other media—often a bit too gleefully—that’s forced Condé Nast to slash costs across its magazine empire, as the publisher resets for the so-called new reality.

Rather than joining those naysayers, I’m going to predict that Condé Nast’s woes are a contrary financial indicator, just as its swollen success was back in 2007 (see my blog post above).

Affluent consumers may have stepped away from the table for a breath of fresh air. But they’ll never lose their appetites for the luxe life.