As the economy continues to lurch, even world leaders are pulling off recessionary belt-tightening in an iconic American product: jeans.

In recent months, Barack’s shown up in his blues, Russia’s Dmitry has done denim and Sarkozy has sported skinnies (alongside his supermodel wife of course).

“Jeans are the new lipstick,” Synovate UK CEO Jill Telford says. “Although I am not suggesting for a second that these gentlemen are heading for cosmetics next!”

Telford, a luxury retail expert, is referring to the phenomenon analysts call the 'Lipstick Index' which was coined to describe why lipstick sales rose by 11 percent in 2001 in the months after 9/11.

The idea: when the economy is suffering, and consumers can’t afford to buy the latest It bag or Manolos, they will make their shopping-obsessed selves feel better with something that makes them feel good.

In these stressful times buying small, comforting items helps ease the pain of recession, explains Telford.

“In the case of world leaders, it also shows a certain affinity with all of us ‘normal’ people. They are wearing denim because we can afford it.”

Denim is one area in which some of the most fundamental rules of economies don't appear to apply. Despite the dire US economy, data from Cotton Incorporated’s Lifestyle Monitor™ confirms that Americans’ love for jeans is unwavering, even in this recession.

According to the survey, on average US women own seven pairs of jeans, with 13-to-24 year olds owning nine. And women generally wear jeans four days a week, with younger women sporting denim five days, says Barb Steffen, spokesperson for Cotton Incorporated.

In a 2008 global study, Synovate asked men and women across 10 markets for the skinny on their jean-wearing habits – in good times and bad. Given the choice, 45 per cent said they would wear jeans every day. That number jumped to a whopping 68 percent in Serbia and 53 per cent in the United States.

The study showed that a large percent of Synovate respondents globally pay less than US$40, prompting budget jeans shopping sprees.

At the other end of the scale, 26 per cent of Russians surveyed said that they would spend US$120 or more for jeans, with 10 per cent prepared to spend more than US$200.

The survey found that overall, seven in 10 people across the globe expect to pay somewhere around US$80.

Many brands are making jeans the new affordable must-haves. In the UK, retailers are stocking lower priced items as even the wealthy begin to economise, says Telford.

“The British are very formal, but I am starting to see jeans creeping up among the sea of black suits on the London Bridge as I walk to work.”

So who's interested in getting their jeans at a bargain price? “Almost everybody,” says Kami Gray, an American TV and film wardrobe stylist and author of The Denim Diet: Sixteen Simple Habits to Get You Into Your Dream Pair of Jeans.

High-end jeans may be the rage, but jean wearers are scouring the racks at resale shops to get their fix, she says.

“I think that due to the state of the economy as well as consumers’ increased interest in being gentler to the planet, the biggest trend in jeans right now is designer resale,” says Gray.

Resale shops offer brands like Hudsons, Citizens, Sevens, True Religion, Paige, and more for US$25 to US$60, she says.  Gray recalls how at a recent fashion show, Liz Burpoe, the head wardrobe stylist for Saks Fifth Avenue, told a group of wealthy socialites to invest in a pair of jeans.

Mixing it all up – high-end with high street finds – is the mark of today’s recessionary fashion. “[Burpoe] held up a pair of Paige Denim jeans and combined them with an Armani jacket, a Pucci scarf, and a long-sleeved T-shirt from DKNY,” says Gray. “Our jaws dropped.”

Even in Japan, cheap and cheerful is catching on. Nobody can ever have too many pairs of jeans, is the philosophy of GOV Retailing. The company is making them available for ¥990 or just over US$10 at almost 70 g.u. outlets in Japan, according to a recent article in The Japan Times.

"We are offering the lowest possible prices for a pair of jeans, in the process changing the widely held view that jeans have to cost more," GOV President Shuichi Nakajima said in an interview with the Japanese newspaper.

Despite the frayed economy however, some individuals are still willing to pay upwards of US$170 to US$300 for premium brands like True Religion Apparel Inc., says Telford.

The US brand, which is poised to kick off European standalone stores, recently reported that first-quarter net sales at its 60 US stores rose 19 per cent to $63.6 million.

Not to be left out of the parade of designers launching fashion items in the middle of a downward spiralling financial crisis, Tom Ford seized the moment to roll out US$990 jeans earlier this year. Uber-hot French house Balmain is selling jeans for US$2,685, according to a recent article in The Telegraph.

Even Levis is jumping into the high-end fray. Brett Anderson, a spokesperson for Levi's Men's publicity, said Levis recently introduced a premium assortment called Levi's® Capital E with a starting price point of US$138.00. The collection is carried by select high-end retailers, including: Barneys New York stores, Fred Segal in Los Angeles, American Rag locations, Saks Fifth Avenue, Bloomingdales and Nordstrom.

In Russia, the 2008 Synovate study showed that the purchase of expensive designer jeans is all wrapped up in the fact that people like to get attention at any price – a parade led by Russian president Dmitry Medvedev and his wife Svetlana.

The chic couple chose casual wear - jeans (and jackets) when they welcomed US President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama to a state dinner in Moscow. When Medvedev strolled though Red Square last March to introduce himself to the Russian people as their next president, he went for the GQ look in a black leather jacket, jeans, and a cable-knit sweater. The world took note.  

Meanwhile in the US, TV cameras zoomed in on Obama, trotting to the baseball mound in trainers and jeans to throw out the first pitch at the All-Star baseball game in July. The US President’s baggy denims unnerved the fashion police and made international fashion headlines.

“Those jeans are comfortable, and for those of you who want your president to look great in his tight jeans, I’m sorry — I’m not the guy,” Obama said in response. “It just doesn’t fit me.”

Does that make denim the new suit in the corporate-sphere? When are jeans stylish and when are they inappropriate?

The Synovate survey found that the style-conscious French have a different perspective from most others.

An overall 38 percent agreed that ‘jeans are appropriate office attire’ but this shot up to an amazing 87 percent in France. Despite this strong French acceptance of jeans as office wear, denim is clearly not party attire in France, where 74 percent of respondents disagreed with the statement ‘I almost always wear jeans to parties’.

“Recession or no recession, jeans will never go out of style as proven by our world leaders who are demonstrating they are here to stay,” says Telford.

“But muffin tops, now, they need to go.”

For more on the 2008 Synovate global jeans study, please click here. To learn more from a retail specialist in your part of the world, please email Vien Chan.