giancarlo giammetti

The Fashion Statement: Fashion's Priciest Coffee Table Books

What to get the stylish woman who has everything? (And let's just say you've exhausted gifts like precious gems, haute couture and yacht excursions to St. Barths) Well, then, what about a super collectible, really expensive fashion coffee table book? Here, a list of some of the priciest tomes out there.

1. Couture Fashion Drawings by Hubert de Givenchy, published by the house of Givenchy, Paris, in 1980: This is signed by the late designer himself and includes hand-colored haute couture fashion sketch plates from the period of the '70s to the '80s including original fabric swatches. The book was part of the Estate of Nan Kempner, a New York socialite who died in 2005. Price tag? $9,000

2. Valentino Garavani (hardcover) by Suzy Menkes, Matt Tyrnauer and Armando Chitolina, published by Taschen in 2007: This is the coffee table book version of Valentino: The Last Emperor, a documentary film by Vanity Fair writer Matt Tyrnauer. It's an homage to Valentino's legendary career and includes images from his archives, drawings, advertisements, portraits, documentary photographs as well as newspaper and magazine articles. International Herald Tribune's fashion writer Suzy Menkes interviewed 20 of Valentino's closest collaborators and friends, including his life partner Giancarlo Giammetti. Price tag? $4,500

3. Russell James (hardcover deluxe edition with Gisele Bundchen photoprint) with forwards by Heidi Klum, Donna Karan, and Sharen Turney, published by teNeues in 2009: Who wouldn't pay big bucks to Gisele in the buff? This book highlights the work of Russell James, a photographer who is well-known for his nudes and fashion portraiture. The volume is encased in a clamshell box and contains one of only two numbered and signed limited-edition large prints that show his study of human beauty. Price tag? $3,250

Tags: Anna Wintour, giancarlo giammetti, gisele bundchen, Givenchy, grace coddington, Matt Tyrnauer, Nan Kempner, pierre berge, Russell James, Suzy Menkes, Valentino, Yves Saint Laurent

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Sunday Real Estate Round-Up, 02/21/10

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Estates, Celebrity Shopping

From The Wall Street Journal's Private Properties:
--Giancarlo Giammetti, the longtime companion of Italian fashion designer Valentino has listed his Tuscan estate, shown above, for €18 million (about $24.7 million).

Gallery: Giancarlo Giammetti in Tuscany

--Film financier Ryan Kavanaugh has sold his Malibu, California beach home to Todd Phillips, director of the film "The Hangover," for $9 million.
--HBO Co-President Richard Plepler and his wife, Lisa, have sold their home in western Connecticut for $2.65 million.

From ShelterPop:
A home used in the original "Beverly Hills, 90210" is on the market for $10.5 million. The property was used for the exterior shots of Donna, David and Kelly's apartment building during the later years of the show.

From the South Beach Real Estate Blog:
--Lil Wayne has listed his four-bedroom Miami Beach condo for $2.799 million.

From Homes and Properties UK:
--Comedian Ricky Gervais may be moving to New York but has no intention of selling his renovated London home.
--Also heading to NYC is historian Andrew Roberts who is looking for a four-bedroom Upper East Side apartment because his wife, Susan Gilchrist, has been appointed North American head of Brunswick PR group. The couple plan to keep their Grade II-listed Belgravia house in South Eaton Place.
--Controversial Scottish sculptor and writer Jimmy Boyle is selling Villa Jereca, his five-bedroom Marrakech riad, for £2.2 million through Quintessentially Estates. The listing is here.
--Actress Charlotte Riley, best-known for playing Cathy in the ITV mini-series Wuthering Heights, shares a West Kensington council flat with three actress friends but still longs for the countryside.

From the LA Times Hot Properties:
Palomino Hacienda, a home that Michael Jackson rented in Las Vegas for two years, is now on the market for $12.8 million.

Gallery: Palomino Hacienda

--Two-time Stanley Cup winning hockey player Oleg Tverdovsky has purchased a Mediterranean home in Bel-Air for $5.4 million.
--A Malibu beach home once owned by Robert Redford has come on the market for $13.8 million.The listing is here.
--Music industry executive Phil Quartararo has listed his walled and gated Brentwood home for $13.25 million. The website for the Spanish Colonial Revival home is here.

From Zillow Blog:
--Plaxico Burress, the former NY Giants receiver who went to jail on a weapons charge is facing foreclosure on his home in Lighthouse Point, Florida.
--Jon and Kate Gosselin have finally sold their Elizabethtown, Pennsylvania home for $258,000 which is $22,000 less than they paid for the home in 2006.

Gallery: The Gosselins In Elizabethtown

From Move Trends:
--Julianna Marguiles has dropped the price on her Santa Monica home. When we checked it out as an estate of the day in 2008 it was listed at $4.5 million but it can now be had for $3.295 million.

Gallery: Julianna Margulies in Santa Monica

--The house used in Ferris Bueller's Day Off has had a price cut. It was once listed at $2.3 million but is now at $1.8 million.

Gallery: The Ben Rose Home

--The home used in the New Moon movie as the Cullen home has had a price cut. It was listed $3.298 million but is now at $2.998 million (Canadian).

Gallery: The Cullen House

--Greg Gaffin, the leader singer of the band Bad Religion has listed his home in Lansing, New York for $650,000.
--The LaLaurie Mansion, one of two homes Nicolas Cage once owned in New Orleans, is back on the market for $2.9 million,which is $1 million less than Cage originally listed the house for.

Gallery: Another Nicolas Cage Home In New Orleans