Acting the rich bitch

Even the poshest shops and most exclusive brands are quietly cutting their prices, says Susan Daly

In September last year, an extraordinary party hit the headlines. Around 300 employees of the London branch of Lehman Brothers gathered in a bar near their offices. The bank whose $600bn (€460bn) collapse triggered the global financial crisis then treated its remaining staff to an evening of expensive wine and pink champagne -- a toast of sorts on the anniversary of the crash.

Few of us non-bankers are willing to be seen swilling champagne in public but there are signs that the demand for luxury products is warming up. LVMH, the world's largest luxury goods firm, recorded a 13pc jump in sales for the first quarter of 2010. Asia is a big market now for the status symbols LVMH purveys -- Louis Vuitton handbags, Tag-Heuer watches, Moet et Chandon, Krug and Don Perignon champagne -- but the firm reported that their European sales are also on the up.

"While I wouldn't say we are out of the woods, there is a lot more confidence around," says Stephen Sealey, managing director of high-end store Brown Thomas. "The accessories business is quite strong."

Some consumer watchers say we are indulging a pent-up desire for nice things. We've paid down some of our personal debt and we're bored of deprivation.

Sealey says that his well-heeled customers have snapped up premium-price items like Victoria Beckham's clothing range without hesitation (and you won't get change from €1,000 for an entry-level dress in that collection), or to-die-for wrist candy like the Mulberry Alexa, named for celebrity clothes horse du jour, Alexa Chung.

But while Sealey says that Brown Thomas "will never go down the route of cut-price and lower-end lines", there is evidence that looking and living like a millionaire has never been more accessible for the average Joe and Josephine. Brands and service providers have been forced to find ways of drawing us back in after 18 months of starving for custom.

"I would say that 90pc of retailers are committed to special offers and extra value packages," says Alan Gilligan of onoffer.ie, which has an online forum for consumers to tip each other off to bargain discoveries.

Brian Sargent, director of luxury holiday company Tropical Sky, says it is on track to double business this year over 2009 because punters are finding such value at the luxury end of the market. "We're talking a week in the Maldives at a four-star hotel, watersports, all-inclusives at €1,700 -- that kind of package would have been €2,800 last year," he says.

Fortune -- or saving one -- favours the bold, says Sargent.

"Many customers will now come in and say, 'What are you going to do for me for that price?' In the vast majority of cases now, you can negotiate another extra in there, maybe upgrade their hired car and so on. This year is a great one for travellers because the airlines have softened their prices and hotels are even more aggressively discounting."

Many areas of the luxury goods and services industry prefer the euphemism of "extra value" -- discounts are so crass, darling. So luxury hotels will offer extra nights of accommodation free, or include spa treatments in the overall price.

But there is no denying that in some cases, prices have simply been chopped.

Gilligan mentions one "very nice restaurant" in Dublin was recently offering a lunch deal that invited customers to toss a coin: heads, you pay; tails, lunch is free.

Golf clubs, too, the source of much snobbery and bragging rights in the Celtic Tiger years, are lobbing huge lumps off their prices. To take an extreme example, joining the exclusive Druids Glen club in Co Wicklow a few years ago would have involved finding a spare €50,000 for the joining fee. That fee has now been scrapped entirely and the annual membership costs €4,000.

An acquaintance tells me that he recently joined his local club for €5,000. His friend, who joined it in 2007, is raging because he paid €14,000 for his membership at the time. He feels like a Celtic cub who was sold a pup.

Were my acquaintance to toast his one-up-manship, he might plump for one of the many fine champagnes currently on special offer. Around Valentine's Day, a time when traditionally demand for bottles of bubbly kept prices at a premium, Bollinger was selling its Special Cuvee for a bargain €50 in O'Brien's off-licences. Bolly, one notes, is the only brand of bubbles that James Bond and Queen Victoria would allow tickle their tongue.

Pascal Rossignol, owner of Le Caveau speciality wine shop in Kilkenny city, says: "There have been some big discounts from the grands marques (the high-end champagne houses), fairly good discounts that we have been able to pass on to the customers."

We'll say cheers to that, but if you're going to look the Ab Fab part, you'll need to dress it too.

Kildare Village designer outlet opened in 2006, at the height of the spending frenzy here, but has managed to prove recession-resistant because contractually, everything has to be at least 33pc cheaper than recommended retail prices.

On a weekday morning, the newly opened Juicy Couture store there is packed with young, poker-haired women rifling through the plush velvet sportswear made famous on the pert backsides of stars like Eva Longoria, Paris Hilton, Jennifer Lopez and Madonna. This is not end-of-line, factory rejects stuff: Review kits itself out in a pair of on-trend, straight-leg DKNY dark denims for €69 and toys with a pair of classic Tom Ford aviators (one-third off the normal €300 asking price), as sported by the likes of Brad Pitt and Jessica Simpson.

The assistant in the sunglasses shop says that the Tom Ford line is proving particularly popular because they are understated and don't scream bling.

"People like their designer hit but they don't want to be seen flashing big logos any more. It looks fake," he confides.

And therein lies the key to tapping into the millionaire lifestyle: by all means look for the bargain but never, ever wear your labels on your sleeve.

TEN DEALS TO MAKE YOU FEEL LIKE A MILLIONAIRE
LIVING THE DREAM: The fact that it’s a buyer’s market out there is nowhere more obvious true than in property. Belmayne, a housing development near Donaghmede in north Dublin, tried to sell itself as Millionaire’s Row in 2007 when it jetted in football star Jamie Redknapp and his wife Louise to promote their apartments and houses.
A new developer has since taken over the latest phase of Belmayne and representatives Hooke and MacDonald tell Review that “we’re not selling a dream – everything is on the ground and looks a million dollars”. Nonetheless, a two-bed apartment in Belmayne is now up for grabs for e175,000 (a one-bed cost e275,000 in 2007) and a three-bed house now costs e220,000 (it was e365,000 in 2007).
MICHELIN MUNCHING: Even Michelin-starred restaurants are having to tempt diners. Bon Appetit in Malahide is one such spot and is offering three courses and a bottle of wine for two people for e75.
If it’s the drama of fine dining that appeals, you could always head to Conrad Gallagher (he of Peacock Alley infamy) in his new Salon des Saveurs restaurant on Aungier Street where set menus start at e24.
CHEERS! Moet et Chandon’s most recent glossy campaign had movie star Scarlett Johannson balancing a champagne glass between her perfectly manicured toes. Try re-creating her pose with a bottle of the brand’s bubbly for e38 from lecaveau.ie. “The same bottle of Moet was closer to e50 in mid-2008,” says wine importer Pascal Rossignol.
JEAN GENIES: A strange phenomenon of the Noughties was designers charging over e300 for the humble pair of jeans. Now, Rock & Republic denim, Victoria Beckham’s old favourite, has filed for bankruptcy. Paper Denim & Cloth brand, once worn by everyone from Cameron Diaz to the Olsen Twins, is relaunching as a reduced-rate line (around e80).
At the Kildare Village outlet of 7 For All Mankind, the ‘premium-denim’ brand favoured by Angelina Jolie, Reese Witherspoon and Ben Affleck, you can buy 3 pairs for the price of 2 (handy if you team up with two friends) and one e229 line is marked down to e69.
READY FOR YOUR CLOSE-UP? The modern equivalent of the oil painting over the mantlepiece is the photostudio session. If airbrushing is good enough for celebrity cover girls like Kate Winslet on GQ and Demi Moore on W magazine… The Photography Studio in Harold’s Cross, Dublin is offering a professional photo session for e220 (this service would have cost upwards of e400 three years ago according to onoffer.ie)
SLEEP ON IT: You might not be able to afford your own personal pillow-plumper, but Irish five-star hotel breaks are increasingly good value. The 5-star Hayfield Manor in Cork has in the past hosted the King of Jordan, the King of Malaysia, Mary Robinson and Mary McAlees, Pierce Brosnan, Diana Ross and Lionel Ritchie. Now they’ll put you up for two nights B&B, plus one 4-course dinner and a e50 voucher for spa treatments costs e228 per person. The same package was e350 in 2008.
ART ATTACK: When the financial crisis hit in late 2008, the market for expensive art sagged. While a Picasso might still be out of range for most of us, Dolan’s art auctions, the biggest provincial sales house, is now conducting their auctions without reserve prices. “I figure art should be accessible to a broader spectrum of the population,” says Dr Niall Dolan, “You should be able to come in with e300-e500 and come away with an interesting painting.” Dolan’s next auction is at the Marriott Hotel, Galway on Sunday, May 16.
GREENS WITH ENVY: Is there anything as civilized as a round with the boys, followed by steak and a fine Bordeaux in the club house? Golf club membership has dropped in price sharply at all levels. Luttrellstown Castle for example sported a mid-range annual fee of e7,000 in 2007, but is now asking for only e2,500 a year and is currently running a special rate of e1,500 for membership through the peak playing months of April to September.
AFRICAN QUEEN: Forget the Seychelles. Kenya, with its mix of beach and safari activities, is particularly popular with the likes of Bill Gates, Naomi Campbell and Bono. Lest we forget, it was in a villa in the south coast of Mombasa, Kenya, where Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie first ignited their passion.
A combination of lower air fares and ‘added value’ accommodation deals have knocked down prices in the last year. “It’s not that it’s inexpensive exactly,” says Brian Sargent of tropicalsky.ie “but Kenya and Zanzibar are coming in at e1,000 less per person, to about e3,000 all in.”
JOIN THE CLUB: There was whining from some members of Residence private members’ club on St Stephen’s Green, Dublin last year when it was suggested that the ailing business might be offering cut-price membership deals. It is the case that many of these private members’ clubs have cut fees in a bid to refresh member numbers in the past few years. The thing to ask yourself though before trying to haggle your way past the velvet ropes is: Would I join any club that would have half the Law Library as members?

FIRST PUBLISHED HERE: http://www.independent.ie/lifestyle/its-never-been-easier-to-live-like-a-millionaire-2172358.html

And the bride wore... two dresses

Celebrity weddings: Even Marie Antoinette would have blushed...

The mother-in-law is making the wedding cake. The bride's dress was bought on ebay. These days, most sensible couples are trying to find a way to reduce the price of their nuptials from the Irish average of €25,000.

The celebrity wedding, however, is recession-proof. The clients of Tatiana Byron-Marx, New York-based wedding planner to the stars, don't consider it a party unless the bill comes to seven figures.

Weddings, says Tatiana, are theatre. "Basically it's a production for one-night only. You're building an entire set -- you're the director and producer. The bride and groom are the lead actors and the guests are the audience. It is absolutely the goal to create a memory to last a lifetime."

Considering the brevity of some high-profile marriages, that memory might well outlive the marriage. But what memories! One of Tatiana's clients had Cirque du Soleil perform a specially-choreographed dance above the heads of the guests.

"That was fabulous," says Russian-born Tatiana. "We had two performers -- one dressed as a bride, and one as a groom -- doing an aerial act above the reception."

At another private client's party -- Tatiana has to sign confidentiality agreements as tight as a billionaire's pre-nup -- she hired Lionel Ritchie and the Pussycat Dolls to keep guests amused.

'Some of the most decadent nights we've put on have had major décor budgets and crazy themes. We had a Shanghai theme where we transported the guests into a Shanghai world; the waiting staff attire, the décor, the food, it all matched the theme," says Tatiana.

She's worked with Diana Ross and Mary J Blige, En Vogue but no one can touch her client Sean 'P Diddy' Combs for partying like it's 2009.

"Puff Daddy has the best birthday parties. He's having one tonight in New York Plaza for all his nearest and dearest friends -- 700 people," she laughs. "He'll be performing alongside his friends from the hip-hop world. There will be sushi bars and raw bars. It's going to be a party fit for a king."

Despite the Cristal-quaffing propensities of her usual client list, Tatiana reckons she will have plenty of inspiration for the more modest budgets of Irish brides when she speaks at The Wedding Experience showcase in Adare, Co Limerick, this weekend.

"There are so many brides creating their own weddings -- the DIY brides. We can teach brides where to begin, where the hidden costs are, where to spend and where to save," she says.

Where to spend? The décor, the bar and the food. "It's really important because ultimately you want the guests to have a good time and dinner should be an experience," she says. "And if I were to add a fourth, I would say get a good photographer."

Or, presuming you live in a house made of gold bars, you could opt for a blowout dinner party like the one planned by Tatiana for a very wealthy client in the manicured grounds of the palace of Versailles.

"We hired hundreds of actors to be in period costume, mingling around the guests. It was a party within a party," she says. "We had Marie-Antoinette ride in a horse and carriage. The table was the length of a football field, so it took 35 minutes to walk around."

The irony of theming a million-dollar party around a queen who was beheaded for her extravagance was apparently lost on that client. The truth is that the rich don't worry about scrimping on the canapés.

"That Gilded Age look for table décor was very hot this year," says Tatiana. "Special gold-embroidered invitations, fabulous dessert stations, gold linen, fruits in centerpieces ... When Ivanka Trump got married last month, it was very opulent. She had a Grace Kelly theme, an abundance of flowers, and an 18-piece band -- it was like a mini Carnegie Hall."

The trends for 2010, should you wish to emulate them, are sushi bars, Peking duck carving stations, four dinner courses instead of three (smaller portions though, like tuna tartare in a martini glass -- socialites and celebs disdain pigging out, don't you know).

'People eat with their eyes," says Tatiana. "So dessert stations have become incredibly abundant, lots of chocolate fountains, ice-cream sundae stations. Bite-size cupcakes are huge now -- red velvet and Oreo cookie ones, covered with M&Ms, every variety imaginable."

'Convertible' wedding dresses are all the rage -- a long gown from which the bottom half can be removed to create a more daring hemline when the reception hots up. If that sounds a little Bucks' Fizz circa Eurovision 1981, you could opt for two separate dresses entirely. One is for the ceremony and one for the party, a trend pioneered by Katie Holmes when she donned two Armani frocks for her wedding. It sounds like you can never be too excessive when you're having a big, fat, wealthy wedding. "There are some times when I have to stand my ground," says Tatiana.

"We had a client who was getting married in Moscow who insisted on transporting her guests from the wedding to the reception by boat. It would have taken six hours: I had to insist that wouldn't be good for the guests."

Still, surrounded by such opulence must turn a girl's head. "It's so funny you say that," says Tatiana, "When I got married, I had just 11 people at my wedding."

Then she laughs: "I still had a nice photographer and a Sylvia Weinstock (baker to the stars) cake. Three tiers of chocolate on chocolate, with gold and lush red roses to match my bouquet."

Tatiana Byron Marx speaks at the Wedding Experience in Adare Manor, Co Limerick next Saturday. Entry is free but to reserve a spot, call Sarah Stuart-Trainor on 061 605200.

- Susan Daly

http://www.independent.ie/lifestyle/even-marie-antoinette-would-have-blushed-1952716.html

Bachelor boys

http://www.independent.ie/lifestyle/i-would-hate-to-be--70-and-have-nobody-give-a-s-about-me-1748825.html

'I would hate to be 70 and have nobody give a s*** about me'

Most men would love the life of a bachelor and all it entails, from fabulous apartments uncluttered by girlfriends' shoes to constant hot dates and parties. Or would they? Susan Daly investigates why 40-plus singletons are now starting to rethink their status

By Susan Daly

Saturday May 23 2009

The lifestyle of the modern bachelor inspires envy. Footloose fun and frolics in a world lined with fast cars, penthouse pads and beautiful, disposable women; they're living the dream, right?

But filter out the roar of private jets and the clinking of Martini glasses, and you may hear murmurs of dissatisfaction from some of the world's most eligible bachelors. Gerard Butler, the 300 actor with the six-pack torso, recently betrayed the brethren by saying: "I find playing the field less and less exciting. I enjoy being single less and less." He turns 40 this year. Fellow actor Orlando Bloom came to his single crisis a little earlier, when he turned 30. "Everything outside my job has begun to pall -- the jet-setting, the nightclubs, the bachelor lifestyle; now I need some permanence and stability," he said mournfully. "I feel it's about time I settled down."

Even Hugh Hefner, who claims to have invented the concept of the babe-magnet bachelor in the 50s, has been playing hard and fast with the playboy principles of love 'em and leave 'em. The 83-year-old, for whom women have been interchangeable props in his Playboy Mansion, went on record last week as saying he wants the "love of his life" Holly Madison back -- eight months after she left him for a TV magician.

What in the name of George Clooney is going on? Michael O'Doherty, publisher of VIP magazine, despairs of the assumption that bachelorhood is a bed of thornless roses. "I would like to get married," he says. "I would hate to be 70 and have nobody give a shit about me."

O'Doherty appears to have all the trappings of gold-plated singledom: the quayside apartment with panoramic views of Dublin city, the orange Lamborghini (which he traded up to from a red Ferrari) and the publishing empire which sees him preside over such glam awards ceremonies as the VIP Style and TV Now awards, top-heavy with beautiful models and socialites. For a working lunch, he suggests we meet in the opulent private members' club, Residence on Stephen's Green. It is one of his regular haunts.

Yet, as he sips his glass of Sancerre and recommends the tarte tatin, he says the presumption is not that a man who is single at 44, as he is, has the life of George Clooney -- it is that he is gay. "At about 36 or 38, the gay rumours start to hit. The minute 40 starts to approach, people start to question why you haven't settled down," he says. "I have seen the term 'confirmed bachelor' written about me. The term 'eligible bachelor' means a great catch, form an orderly queue ladies. 'Confirmed bachelor' means don't bother queueing ladies, because you will be out all night and when you get to the till, all the goods will be gone."

It is not the gay rumours that concern O'Doherty about 40-plus singledom. He was thinking the other day about how old he might be at the 21st birthday party of any hypothetical child of his. "Would I still be attractive; could I still flirt with my son's girlfriends or my daughter's girlfriends?" he muses, with what one suspects is tongue firmly in cheek. "And 66 is the youngest I could be!"

He remembers his own father, who died suddenly last year at the age of 71, schmoozing the room at O'Doherty's own 21st. "He was only about 46 at the time. He could certainly get away with it, and there is a certain roguery element to it. But a 66-year-old flirting with a 20-year-old girl is outrageous! It's utterly wrong."

However, age-appropriateness remains a relatively fluid concept for bachelors. O'Doherty blanches at the thought of going out with a woman who has the syllable 'teen' in her age, but two years ago, when he was 42, he dated a 21-year-old. "The best thing about it was people saying, 'Oh Michael, how could you? She's literally half your age'," he says, leaving room for a deadbeat pause. "She was a mature 21-year-old."

You could be forgiven for thinking that there are any number of Irish bachelors running around living the life of Reilly, whoever he was. Former F1 driver Eddie Irvine, for example, is not just one of Ireland's most notorious playboys -- he's world class. (Although class might not be the correct word for a man who once advised: "You have to speak to a beautiful woman but if she's average, you can nail her without bothering.") Unmarried Irish hotel millionaire John Fitzpatrick has a lifestyle that would turn James Bond green -- the 49-year-old splits his time between his house in the Hamptons and his bachelor pad in Manhattan, rides a Harley, snowboards, kiteboards and flies planes and helicopters.

For a time during the Celtic Tiger, such decadence was not just for rich, single businessmen. Property developers spent the best part of a decade upping the ante on the traditional bachelor pad -- and they had no shortage of customers.

"People were indulging themselves," says Gary Jacobs, director of Allen and Jacobs estate agents in Dublin. "It evolved from timber decking in a penthouse apartment balcony to lights in the decking to speakers in the decking, to a hot tub on the roof. Jacuzzis with mood lighting moved into bathrooms, plus waterfall showers, wireless stereo systems and smart home technology throughout. It was toys for boys, essentially."

Michael O'Doherty agrees that certain bachelor accessories have a "bang" off them. His Lamborghini -- which he says he doesn't use that much -- certainly has that effect. "It is a two-seater car and it doesn't have any luggage space. It does reek of the single man," he says. He claims that he didn't buy it as a potential babe magnet. "I drive it for the fun and enjoyment. I'm not driving around in a chest wig, with the wind blowing in my hair, a gold medallion and pointy shoes with no socks, thinking, 'Everyone look at me, Billy Big Nuts'," he says indignantly.

Which is just as well -- a girl he went out with last year would refuse to get into the car. "Mostly, it would be married men who like looking at it and saying, 'Jammy bastard, he can get away with that'." However, O'Doherty has a sell-by date in mind for the car. "I wouldn't want to be driving it at 50," he says, "What is sad is some bald, old guy with a woman in her 20s, trying to get his beer gut behind the wheel of a sports car and needing a chairlift to get out of it." Heaven forfend.

This expiry date extends to bachelorhood. O'Doherty was best man four times within two years, but never the groom. He went to a wedding on the May bank holiday weekend on his own, something he found "a bit sad". He wants children, a house, security and comfort. But the dilemma of ageing bachelors everywhere is the pool of marriageable women gets shallower as you get older, mature 21-year-olds notwithstanding. Simultaneously, O'Doherty says he is choosier than ever. "You get higher standards; you can't tolerate the same stuff you could at 25 because you've heard it all before."

Despite the snaps of him posing with models and minor celebs at parties related to his magazines, he claims not to date much at all. "My entire lifestyle is based on work, and my whole attitude to work is informed by the fact that there is nobody else impinging on my time," he says. "Although it is a very flimsy excuse for not having a relationship."

The impetus in older bachelors to get hitched could have some basis in the natural instinct to survive. Dr Noel Richardson, director of the National Centre for Men's Health Research and Training, says a report done on single older men in Kerry showed that they had a higher incidence of depression and mental health issues in general. "And women tend to have a crucial role in supporting men in health roles, encouraging them to go to the doctor," says Dr Richardson. "

Two years ago, American professor Robert Kaplan reported that a study of more than 67,000 people showed that single men had a shorter life expectancy than married men. "Accumulated evidence suggests that social isolation increases the risk of premature death," he added. "Marriage is a rough proxy for social connectedness." It gives a new meaning to the term 'toxic bachelor', originally coined by Sex and the City writer Candace Bushnell. The only person a long-time commitment-phobe is hurting, it seems, is themselves.

It is not all doom and gloom, however, for the rootless bachelor. Last month, the University of Maryland in the US picked up on a new social phenomenon for men to enjoy a 'golden age' of renewed male friendships in their late 40s. Instead of juggling family and work, these men have created an alternative supportive structure of male camaraderie and loyalty.

RTE sportscaster Marty Morrissey, a bachelor of the "45-plus" sector, he jokes, recognises this "inner circle" in his own group of friends. "I am not married, my father was an only child, my mother was an only child, and I was their only child," he explains, "So the things I might tell a sibling or a wife I tell my close friends. It can be tough to be unmarried, especially in rural Ireland, where the marriage culture has traditionally been strong. If your life has run a different course, loyal friends are very, very important."

Dr Mark Rowe, a Waterford-based GP who has just published The Men's Health Book (all proceeds to the Marie Keating Foundation), agrees that loneliness can cause stress and distress in a man who, to the outside world, is footloose and fancy-free. "They need friends; even a pet dog can provide company. And it is important that they make time for what is important -- healthy eating, exercise -- rather than what they think is urgent in work."

So, it appears that the only man living the life of George Clooney is, well, George Clooney. "People say it must be great to be in your 40s and single, like George Clooney," laughs Michael O'Doherty. "Much in the same way as they say, 'Oh, there's nothing wrong with being bald -- look at Sean Connery'. Realistically, Sean Connery is the only good-looking bald man on the planet."