Forget having a mooch through the Argos catalogue, these billionaires take Christmas gift-giving to a whole other level...
WHAT do you get the person that has everything? That is the million-pound question a new Channel 4 documentary aims to answer.
The World’s Most Expensive Presents reveals what Britain's billionaires will be splashing their cash on this Christmas - and a quick jaunt around John Lewis this is not.
Bespoke luxury suppliers can provide everything from £250,000 gold-plated bikes and £60,000 alligator-skin poker sets, to £11.5 million diamond-encrusted edible shoes.
The eye-wateringly expensive footwear has been designed by Debbie Wingham, a cake artist, as a 30th birthday present.
The artisan baker flatters clients with entirely edible reflections of their lives – be it their designer shoe collections or favourite hobbies.
“A client came to me and said they have a beautiful diamond portfolio they’re going to gift to their daughter,” Debbie explained. “Somehow I ended up coming up with the pitch, ‘why don’t we create the world’s most expensive shoe?’”
Designed to be looked at, not worn, the heels are gilded in real gold and covered in real diamonds – the hidden gift. The pink diamonds cost £3.5 million each, the blue are valued at £1.9 million each and the zip is solid gold. In total, the shoes feature more than 1,000 stones.
Debbie has also been tasked with creating a giant chocolate container that dispenses champagne - and conceals a one-of-a-kind $1million Hublot black diamond watch.
Meanwhile, Rachelle Fawcett, from Brighton, specialises in making opulent occasion wear for dogs.
Her fitted, crystal-adorned evening jackets start at £1,500, while her silk pooch gowns go up to £5,000. “I’m not making for somebody who is looking at a price tag,” she insists.
Her most elaborate outfit – a doggy ballgown – took 900 hours to make, and features 40,000 hand-applied Swarovski crystals, plus six metres of the finest bridal silk. It is expected to sell between £35-40,000.
“It does look excessive, which was the look I was going for. What multi-millionaire wouldn’t love this? I kind of think of this piece as jewellery because it’s so sparkly,” she said.
Laban Roomes, a Dubai-based businessman, takes everyday items and dips them in 24-carat liquid gold. “We’re in the business of not just enhancing the product’s beauty but also the price,” he said.
“What makes a perfect gift to someone that has everything? They have their boat, cars, a wardrobe full of clothes… but do they have a gold cigar? We specialise in sorting gifts for the ungiftable.”
Laban can do a bouquet of gold roses for £6,000. He was once asked to gold-plate a client’s dead dog. Fortunately, he said no.
For Christmas he has dipped a racing bike in gold, and is selling it for £250,000.
“It’s been billed as the most expensive bike that’s been customised in the world,” he revealed. “It’s a piece of art but is also a practical bike that can be ridden to the local shop to pick up eggs.” The buyer describes it as a “very beautiful bike”.
Laban’s next project is to gold-plate a McLaren sports car. “Whatever we’ve done, people have looked at us like we’re insane, but there’s a buyer out there for everything,” he said.
Meanwhile, Marcel and Amar, of VeryFirstTwo, are bringing their super-rich clients (and their kids) a bespoke colouring book costing a staggering £23,900. Pencils not included.
Illustrated by Ian Beck, who drew the famous cover for Elton John’s Yellow Brick Road album, it’s a one-of-a-kind gift.
Marcel said: “Clients need to be able to give a present that they’re absolutely assured the recipient has never had in their life.
“It goes way beyond just being a colouring book. It’s a tapestry of emotions. It’s memory after memory. It’s an heirloom.”
The pair have also created a luxury pair of leather shoes in collaboration with Oliver Sweeney that conceal an array of gadgets in the sole.
Retailing at £2,000, the ultimate James Bond shoes can hold the world’s smallest mobile phone, a pill bottle, a USB lead and mini pen knives.
The laces are also made from Kevlar, which can cut through any material and are even strong enough to tow a car.
If you’re a gambling man, you could also invest in a one-off poker set costing £60,000.
Elliott Parker, from Essex, runs a luxury gaming company. He once created a custom Monopoly set that sold for £500,000, featured solid white gold dice and was played with real money.
His latest set includes a black alligator leather case, and Swarovski crystal encrusted chips – but we wouldn’t recommend splashing out unless you’ve won big on a bet.
In more lives of the rich and famous, billionaire Arsenal owner Alisher Usmanov’s niece got married in an outrageously lavish ceremony earlier this week – and she wore THREE dresses.
While we looked inside F1 heiress Tamara Ecclestone’s £5m wardrobe, featuring 22 Gucci mules, 81 sets of Victoria’s Secret pyjamas and a WALL of Chanel bags.
The World’s Most Expensive Presents is on Channel 4 on Tuesday at 9pm.
