London, April 9 : Elle Macpherson has downgraded her luxurious lifestyle due to the recession but refuses to give up her most expensive habit - collecting art.

The Australian beauty has claimed that the recession has hit her like a `love bite'.

"Oh yes, totally, it's like a fabulous love bite," the Daily Express quoted Macpherson as telling Tatler magazine.

Macpherson, worth an estimated 35 million pounds, has admitted that she had to give up some of her extravagances since the global recession hit.

However, while the supermodel will cutback on her cars, she won''t let her art collection suffer.

"I've been a conscious consumer for a while," she said.

"Two years ago I traded in my Range Rover for a Lexus and Ieither bike or take my Fiat Bambino on the school run. My only extravagance is art.

"It always has a place in my budget. All the artists I love, Lucian Freud, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Tracey Emin, Richard Prince, I've invested in," she added. (ANI)