November 3, 2006--Fanaticism LXXII--Conspicuous Caviar
As some close readers of "Behind” might have noticed, Rona and I spend some time on Mallorca where we own a flat. It is in a small town, Puerto Andratx, that used to be a fishing village. True, there still is a fishing fleet, boats that ply the Mediterranean every day; but it has become more and more a place for folks like us. Especially for Brits and German second and third and fourth home owners.
Last spring, on one of our charming side streets a new clothing store opened. PRAVDA is its name and from its name and the glitzy look of the clothes displayed in the window, a lot of us became worried. We had been hearing that of northeast of us, along the French Riviera, the Russians were not just coming but had arrived. And they were buying up all the villas and 100 meter yachts. Especially those that included helicopters on their sterns. Did PRAVDA signal the beginning of the Russian oligarchs’ invasion of our island hideaway?
My concern grew when I recently read in the NY Times about the Millionaire Fair held recently in Moscow (article linked below). If 40,000 Russian millionaire showed up there to gawk at and buy diamond-incrusted cell phones for $18,000 to $150,000, what would happen when they learned about PRAVDA and villas and yachts on poor Mallorca?
Russia is now home to 25 certified billionaires and 88,000 millionaires, and they are all shopping. They think nothing of plopping down $1.65 million for a Bugatti Veyron sports car that is hand-made in France and has a top speed of 253 mph. The favorite joke at the Fair was about the guy who paid $100 for a silk tie but was called a fool because an identical one was selling for $200 just across the street.
Of course there are sociologists who have important things to say about all this Russian conspicuous consumption. Olga Kryshtanovskaya, who is studying the Russian economic elite, says that “Russians always loved luxury but lived in poverty.” She calls it “palace style,” and sees it manifested even among the poorer classes who will make a palace out of even a tiny Moscow apartment by sticking a sumptuous crystal chandelier in it.
On the other hand, when an oligarch spends it, he really spends it. For example, when 33-year-old gazillionaire Andrei Melnichenko recently married a Serbian model, he wanted the wedding to take place near his favorite yacht in Cannes. And he wanted a church wedding. So for a mere $40 million, he had a Russian Orthodox church dismantled and re-assembled for the day in France. That’s what I call true love.
And PRAVDA, by the way, during the summer, had some really good sales.
Last spring, on one of our charming side streets a new clothing store opened. PRAVDA is its name and from its name and the glitzy look of the clothes displayed in the window, a lot of us became worried. We had been hearing that of northeast of us, along the French Riviera, the Russians were not just coming but had arrived. And they were buying up all the villas and 100 meter yachts. Especially those that included helicopters on their sterns. Did PRAVDA signal the beginning of the Russian oligarchs’ invasion of our island hideaway?
My concern grew when I recently read in the NY Times about the Millionaire Fair held recently in Moscow (article linked below). If 40,000 Russian millionaire showed up there to gawk at and buy diamond-incrusted cell phones for $18,000 to $150,000, what would happen when they learned about PRAVDA and villas and yachts on poor Mallorca?
Russia is now home to 25 certified billionaires and 88,000 millionaires, and they are all shopping. They think nothing of plopping down $1.65 million for a Bugatti Veyron sports car that is hand-made in France and has a top speed of 253 mph. The favorite joke at the Fair was about the guy who paid $100 for a silk tie but was called a fool because an identical one was selling for $200 just across the street.
Of course there are sociologists who have important things to say about all this Russian conspicuous consumption. Olga Kryshtanovskaya, who is studying the Russian economic elite, says that “Russians always loved luxury but lived in poverty.” She calls it “palace style,” and sees it manifested even among the poorer classes who will make a palace out of even a tiny Moscow apartment by sticking a sumptuous crystal chandelier in it.
On the other hand, when an oligarch spends it, he really spends it. For example, when 33-year-old gazillionaire Andrei Melnichenko recently married a Serbian model, he wanted the wedding to take place near his favorite yacht in Cannes. And he wanted a church wedding. So for a mere $40 million, he had a Russian Orthodox church dismantled and re-assembled for the day in France. That’s what I call true love.
And PRAVDA, by the way, during the summer, had some really good sales.
posted by Steven Zwerling at
4:23 PM
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