Middle-class America is finding ways to borrow rather than buy

The Baltimore Sun reports:

Fueled by a flood of information out there about the rich and famous -- everyone knows what Diddy drives or whom Paris Hilton wears -- Americans have developed a taste for luxury goods.

In the U.S. alone, luxury is a $400 billion market, according to the Luxury Marketing Council, which represents some 500 of the world's most prominent luxury brands.

No longer content to just ogle celebrities and their extravagances, consumers want a piece of that excess. And new businesses are more than happy to capitalize by democratizing luxury for the masses, through fractional ownership, rental programs or sales of used premium goods.

After years of buying and receiving designer clothing and accessories as the wife of former Ravens center Wally Williams, Dewan Smith-Williams decided she could only keep and wear so much. So the 36-year-old Finksburg resident decided to put her slightly used luxuries back on the market, opening LaJeans Boutique, a consignment shop in Fells Point. Open since November, the boutique offers customers to-die-for labels like Prada, Armani and Ferragamo, collected from consignors. (The jeans part is an on-site Fashion Institute of Technology designer who customizes and embellishes designer denims.)

Used or for rent.