The Beckhams have a knack for getting themselves into the spotlight, so it seems a little out of character that Victoria Beckham's
debut as fashion designer will be happening in a very quiet and private way. Instead of showing off her new upscale dress designs via the catwalk at New York Fashion Week she will instead be showing them by appointment only over a period of several days.

Why she's going with such a quiet launch isn't clear, although if the dresses are successful I'm sure we'll all get to see them soon enough. Expect price tags for the collection to be upwards of $1200.

Louis Vuitton designer Marc Jacobs will open a boutique for his signature collection at the lavish Elysian Hotel development in Chicago (right) early in 2009. Jacobs' quirky, so-hip-it-hurts clothing is revered by celebs like Victoria Beckham, who starred in his ad campaign.

Jacobs has inked a ten-year lease on the 2,700-sq.-ft. space, which will be located in the development's Beaux Arts-style retail courtyard. The designer already has a boutique for his bridge line, Marc by Marc Jacobs, in the Windy City.

The 60-story edifice designed by architect Lucien Lagrange, is being billed as "a throwback to the grand hotels of the 1920's with the modern conveniences of today." It features 188 guest suites starting at $600,000, 51 private residences which start at $3 million, and a restaurant by famed chef Charlie Trotter.

David and Victoria Beckham are notoriously generous with each other on their birthdays, splashing out on jewels, watches, cars and lavish vacations. Now The Sun reports that David Beckham bought Victoria her own winery in Napa and the pair will be making their own wine. Last month, the paparazzi spotted the pair along with celebrity pals, Tom Cruise, Katie Holmes, Seal, Heidi Klum, Kate Beckinsale and Len Wiseman, touring a winery. It was assumed they were just going wine tasting but apparently while winetasting, David presented Victoria with a bottle with her name on it. The couple isn't planning to go into the wine business, they will just be making their vintage for family and friends.

A few weeks ago, we learned that Victoria Beckham had bought her kids a Neiman Marcus treehouse for Christmas, now The Sun reports that David Beckham has bought his wife a book for Christmas. Now a book may not sound like much of a present, especially for Victoria, who, although she has authored a couple of books, famously claimed in 2005 never to have read one, but this is no ordinary book. David bought Victoria Una Grande Storia Italiana - Valentino Garavani, a fabulous new book from Taschen which celebrates the designer. The book comes in a silk-covered clamshell box that is tinted in Valentino red. Inside, the 738-page book includes drawings, magazine shoots, advertisements, portraits of Valentino, and documentary photographs. The text includes Vanity Fair writer Matt Tyrnauer's interviews with twenty of Valentino's collaborators and friends and a tribute to Valentino by fashion writer Suzy Menkes. The Collector's Edition is limited to 2,000 individually numbered copies, each signed by Valentino and sells for $1,000. At least if Victoria doesn't read it she can check out the pretty pictures.

England's The Daily Mail has a fun piece on just how much some top celebs are spending on handbags. There aren't any Americans on the list but one recent transplant to the U.S., our favorite free-spending Spice Girl tops the list. According to the piece Victoria Beckham has been spotted this year toting around an astounding £23,625 in purses. And that's just seven bags, I am pretty certain Posh Spice has a lot more bags than that in her closet. The number shown at right, a little purple Hermes clutch to match the purple and silver dress she wore to the Marc Jacobs show in September cost a cool £3,000.

By comparison, Kate Moss came in with just £11,390 in pricey bags. I'd love to see a list of American celebs with a bag addiction. Who would top the list? Now that Lindsay Lohan is reportedly broke I would guess that either Paris Hilton or perhaps one of the Olsen twins with their endless parade of giant Balenciega bags might top that list.

As his football career seems to be winding down, LA Galaxy soccer star David Beckham is lining up sponsorship deals that will ensure he and wife Victoria continue to live the lifestyle to which they have become accustomed. His latest endorsement deal is for Armani's Emporio SS08 range of men's underwear. Beckham will be paid $20 million for the three-year deal and has already shot the first billboard campaign. I, for one, am looking forward to the results of that photo shoot, which will appear on billboards and magazines in January.

I couldn't resist the chance to feature three reality television show houses that were all in today's real estate round-up. All three were part of the subgenre of reality television in which the semi-famous or formerly famous seek a bit more fame through having their lives filmed. For those interested in real estate snooping it's often a chance to eavesdrop on some pretty interesting homes. Today's batch brings us Hulk Hogan's house in Miami, the home of Danny Bonaduce and the home that Miss Victoria Beckham recently pranced through during her reality TV special. Plenty of pics after the jump.

From the NY Post's Gimme Shelter:
--Designer Vera Wang and her family are moving from their Park Avenue apartment into another Park Avenue co-op, her late parents' duplex at 740 Park Ave. Her father Cheng Ching Wang bought a smaller three-bedroom after his wife's death which was listed at $5.95 million (listing here) and has recently gone to contract. Wang's apartment is not on the market yet but is expected to be listed for around $35 million.
--Billionaire Wilbur Ross and his socialite wife, Hilary Geary, are in contract to buy the penthouse that was once home to Earl Blackwell. It was last listed at $18.9 million, the listing is here. Ross is selling his apartment in the Sherry-Netherland hotel to Todd Meister, perhaps best known for his quickie marriage to Nicky Hilton.
--An update on dog-food king Leonard Stern's beach house. It has over 18,000 square feet with nine bedrooms.
-- Robert Goldstein, the president of the Venetian resort in Las Vegas, has paid $17.4 million for a restored vintage estate known as "Gardenside."

From the NY Observer's Manhattan Transfers:
--Brian Leetch, who retired from the New York Rangers, has sold his apartment at the Bromley on West 83rd Street for $3.718 million.
--Filmmaker Jake Paltrow (Gwyneth's brother) and photographer Taryn Simon have bought a six-room, 125-year-old co-op at The Portsmouth on West Ninth Street for $2.125 million
--Eugenia Kaye, who recently battled with Donald Trump Jr., ejecting him from the condo board at Trump Place's 220 Riverside Boulevard tower, has bought a place several miles away on West 18th Street for $2.171 million.
--Texas billionaire, Sam Wyly and his wife have spent $3.05 million on an apartment in the Novaaare, which was formerly home to a Methodist church.

From the Wall Street Journal's Private Properties:
--Ethel Kennedy has cut the price on Hickory Hill yet again. It is not listed at $12.5 million, a full 50% off the original $25 million asking price.
--Naomi Watts and Liev Schreiber are in talks for each to buy adjoining apartments in the same Manhattan condominium building, One Madison Park.
--Shell Oil Co.'s president, John Hofmeister has listed his Pennsylvania farm for $4 million. The listing is here.

From Berg Properties Celebrity Big Time Listings:
--Chicago Bears quarterback Rex Grossman has sold his condominium unit in Evanston, Illinois for $825,000.
--A condo on East Lake Shore Drive that was once owned by Oprah has sold for $4.5 million.
--TV executive producer Carter Bays, who created CBS' "How I Met Your Mother," has paid $1.285 million for a 1,768-square-foot California bungalow in Los Angeles' Spaulding Square neighborhood. The listing for the house is here.
--Renee Zellweger has paid $2.2 million for a commercial condominium unit on Manhattan's Upper East Side.
--Actor Ed O'Neill has sold his three-bedroom house in Beverly Hills for $1.9 million. The listing is here.
--Loni Anderson has sold her house in the Mulholland Estates area above Beverly Hills, Calif. for $5.7 million.
--A home that formerly belonged to Lorenzo Lamas is on the market for $4.5 million. The listing is here.
--Actress Jennifer Finnigan, who starred on the recently canceled CBS drama "Close to Home," has sold her 3,345-square-foot house in Los Angeles' Hollywood Hills for $1.399 million and presumably moved in with new hubby actor Jonathan Silverman.
--Patricia Heaton and her husband, director David Hunt, have paid $1.145 million to purchase a loft-style unit in a development in West Hollywood, CA. They are using the building as an office for their production company.
--Professional skateboarder Erik Ellington has paid $1.845 million to purchase a four-bedroom house in the Hollywood Hills.
--Actress Paula Cale has sold a 1,396-square-foot house in the Hollywood Hills for $1.1 million and bought a 2,210-square-foot house in the Bronson Canyon area of the Hollywood Hills for $1,327,500.

From Perez Hilton:
--Hulk Hogan has listed his Miami home at $18.9 million. More on this one as our estate of the day later.

From the Real Estalker:
--Courtney Vance and Angela Bassett have listed their five-bedroom Hancock Park home, shown above, for $5.99 million. The listing for their luxurious estate is here.
--The Real Estalker Mama unearths the listing for a house in Tarzana, California owned by Jaime Pressly of "My Name Is Earl." She has listed the home for $1.499 million.
--The Real Estalker Mama serves up some tempting pictures of Fleur de Lys, the $125 million Saperstein mansion in Beverly Hills.
--Danny Bonaduce and his long-suffering soon-to-be ex-wife Gretchen have put their Spanish style mansion on the market for $4.5 million. This one will also be part of our estate of the day later on.
--Child actor Taran Noah Smith's Sherman Oaks home was foreclosed on. TMZ has video of the complete and utter mess that the house is in thanks to a messy divorce between the actor and his much older wife.
--Did you wonder about that fabulous house that Victoria Beckham was prancing around in during her TV special? Wonder no more, we'll check out the listing for her deluxe rental during out restate of the day feature later today.

From the LA Times Hot Property:
--As the Real Estalker reported several weeks ago, Nicky Hilton has bought a home in the Hollywood Hills for close to $3 million.
--Wrestler Stone Cold Steve Austin has put his four-bedroom Malibu home on the market for $3.895 million. You can take a look at the listing here.
--As the Real Estalker first mentioned back in April, the Bel-Air home of actress Jane Wyatt was sold to Hollywood producer and talent manager Sandy Gallin.
--Jolie Jenkins, who played Deirdre (Zach's birth mother) on "Desperate Housewives," and David Pagani, a director of TV commercials, have sold their Studio City home to Dwight D. Smith, a producer of "Project Runway" and "Last Comic Standing."

--Les Firestein and Gwyn Lurie, a Hollywood producer and screenwriter have listed their Brentwood home at $4.595 millionn. The Real Estalker Mama recounts that the couple got in a bit of a dust-up with the neighbors over their deluxe treehouse.

How much would you spend on a wedding if money were no object? For most celebrities it isn't, and the result is wedding costs skyrocketing into the hundreds of thousands and even millions of dollars. Forbes recently compiled a list of the 20 most expensive celebrity weddings, going back as far as 20 years. Whether paying for 50,000 exotic flowers or renting an entire island to escape the paparazzi, celebrities spare no expense when it comes to having exactly what they want. The top 5 spenders, in order, are:

• Liza Minelli and David Gest: $3.5 million
• Paul McCartney and Heather MIlls: $3 million
  
• Elizabeth Hurley and Arun Nayar: $2.5 million
• Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes: $2 million
• Elizabeth Taylor and Larry Fortensky: $2 million

Others on the list of 20 include David and Victoria Beckham, Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston, and of course Donald Trump and Melania Knauss.

Sadly, 40% of the couples on the list are now divorced (including obviously Brad and Jennifer above), so feel free to check out this list of the most expensive celebrity divorces -- a few made both lists!

In Los Angeles, they covered the arrival of David and Victoria Beckham as if true royalty had finally arrived in Los Angeles. The Beckhams already secured their Beverly Hills mansion, now all they needed were the wheels. The expert Beckham watchers over at Splash News caught the arrival of Victoria's new 2007 Bentley Continental GTC DUB edition, supposedly a gift from the Beckhams' personal one-man Wecome Wagon, Tom Cruise, who also gave Posh and Becks a custom Cadillac Escalade and Lincoln Navigator (presumably David gets to drive one of those). The kickingest detail about Mrs. B's custom ride are the elegantly monogrammed rims and headrests (click over to Splash News for an up close pic). At least this way she won't accidentally get into the wrong Bentley when she's shopping at The Grove.

I love a good ghost story. It's even better when it involves our favorite paragons of excess, the Beckhams. Apparently Posh and Becks are ditching their French country estate because it is haunted.  The Daily Mail reports that the Beckhams bought Domaine Saint-Vincent for£1.5 million for the property in 2003 but have never spent a night in the home. Rumor has it that the  ghost of Leslie Duck, a diplomat who took his own life in 2001, haunts the home. His ghost has been seen rambling around the area. The Beckhams didn't know about the ghost before they bought the house. The estate includes two separate buildings: a manor house with four bedrooms and a  four-bedroom barn conversion. No word yet on what the asking price is.

It turns out that Victoria Beckham didn't get that Bulgari necklace for her birthday after all. Instead the Mirror reports that David Beckham created a ring for her with a Spanish jeweler. Victoria is said to be touched by the simpler present since it came from the heart. She did still get the £100,000 11-course Japanese dinner with chefs flown in from Nobu in London but does this comparatively modest birthday mean that Posh and Becks are changing their epically extravagant ways?

Another year older already? It's time yet again for the birthday of Posh Spice, otherwise known as Victoria Beckham. The Beckhams are infamous for their lavish birthday fetes and this year is no different. Last year they partied in Paris, this year Victoria is having a Japanese-themed party at the Beckham manse in Madrid. The walls will be covered in Japanese silk and chefs from Nobu will prepare the food which includes lobster tails served in martini glasses and exotic fruits and sorbets. But the big news is Victoria's gift. Rumor has it she will be given a copy of the necklace that Keira Knightly wore to the Oscars this year. The massive vintage collar which drips with diamonds, sapphires, rubies and emeralds has been said to cost around $12 million. After the big day, the couple will enjoy a vacation in the Italian lakes area. What a way to turn 32.