gisele bundchen

A new exhibit of Swiss photographer Michel Comte's eye-popping photographs, including several nude supermodels such as Gisele Bundchen (above), has opened at the Leica Gallery in Prague run by the famed camera maker. A trained art restorer and self-taught photographer, Comte came to prominence in 1979 with his first advertising commission for Karl Lagerfeld's fashion label Chloé. One of the top names in fashion and magazine photography, his work fetches tens of thousands of dollars at auction and has appeared in Vanity Fair, Vogue and many others. Some of Comte's other celebrity subjects include Sharon Stone, Jeremy Irons, Cindy Crawford and Carla Bruni.

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

New York Fashion Week has officially begun here at the Lincoln Center, marking the first time in 17 years the main hub has been anywhere else but Bryant Park.

Yesterday, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg kicked off the week, declaring the city the capital of fashion and noting that the Lincoln Center location was appropriate given that fashion is art. He even renamed a subway stop nearby "The Fashion Line."

According to Bloomberg-the wire service, that is-this is the biggest Fashion Week ever with more than 325 designers showing around town through the end of next week. At Lincoln Center, 97 designers will show, up from 75 one year ago.

Show producers say the reason for the uptick is more space and better technology. Among the biggest techie changes are self-service kiosks to detect bar-codes on invitations that will do away with check-in lines and, along with them, probably more than a few catfights. It will also likely prevent show crashers.

Among the trends we should expect to see for Spring 2011? The color orange, maxi skirts, Yves Saint Laurent-esque pantsuits, hot pants and dressy shorts. If resort 2011 is any predictor, we'll also see looser silhouettes-roomy tops worn with roomy bottoms. (The old rule of slim on top, roomy on bottom and vice versa no longer applies). The season is expected to be very colorful, too, doing away with nudes, camel and beiges we've seen in the last few seasons. Finally, blazers sans shoulder pads will be there. Think Julia Roberts après makeover in Pretty Woman.

The impossibly alluring Gisele Bundchen has once again been named as the world's top-earning supermodel, with an income of $25 million for the previous 12 months according to Forbes. The Brazilian bombshell retained the top spot from last year's list with the same dollar figure, proving that the supermodel business is as recession-proof as they come. It's also been a good year for Bundchen in the real estate market; as my colleague Deirdre Woollard reported back in January, she sold her NYC townhouse for $12.95 million. She also reportedly donated $1.5 million to the Red Cross for Haiti, sharing the wealth. In the No. 2 spot on the list is Heidi Klum with $16 million, another carryover from last year, while Kate Moss clocks in at No. 3 with $9 million, Victoria's Secret stunner Adrianna Lima makes No. 4 with $7.5 million, and relative newcomer Doutzen Kroes, yet another VS lingerie lovely, gets the No. 5 slot with $6 million. Check out the full list with a slideshow here.

From Chicago Breaking News:
A 26-room, 27,000-square-foot mansion in Winnetka has hit the market for $28 million, making it the top listing in the Chicago area. Le Grand Reve (the big dream) is owned by commercial real estate executive Sherwin Jarol and his wife, Deborah and was designed by architect Richard Landry. The six-bedroom home includes a two-story rotunda and Tiffany dome. To check out images see Landry's portfolio on the home.

From the Washington Post:
--Ethel Kennedy's Hickory Hill estate in McLean, Virginia has finally sold after a whopping seven years on the market. It was first listed at $25 million but sold for just $8.25 million.

From Cityfile's Buyers and Sellers:
--Lenny Kravitz might finally be unloading his Crosby Street loft after more than six years on-and-off the market. The five-bedroom duplex went into contract late last week. It was most recently listed at $14.995 million.

--Andrew Guff, a managing director at the private equity firm Siguler, Guff & Company, and his wife Jessica Stedman Guff, the executive producer of ABC News Now, have sold their five-bedroom apartment at 333 West End Avenue for $5.27 million.
-- via bigdeal_nyc, Ryan Pedlow, a managing director at Ziff Brothers Investments, has paid $5.2 million for a 6th-floor apartment at 166 Perry Street.
--via the NY Post, real estate developer Louis Cappelli has sold his 13-room duplex at 515 Park Avenue to Swedish lingerie manufacturer Eric Ryd for $24 million.
--via the NY Observer, art dealer Christophe Van de Weghe has sold his loft at 77 Mercer Street for $2.8 million, or $1.2 million more than what he paid for it back in 2004.
--via the NY Mag, Real Deal, an eight-bedroom "Nantucket-style cottage" in Sag Harbor, New York sold for $14 million setting a new record in the community. The buyers may be hedge funder Charles Ray Langston and his wife Casey.
--Shire Realty CEO Rena Shulsky has cut $1 million off the price of her penthouse co-op at 812 Fifth Avenue. It is now listed for $10.75 million.
--via Newsday, James Seuss, the former CEO of Cole Haan who is set to become the chief executive at Tourneau in March, has sold his house on Shelter Island for $985,000.
--via the Real Deal, filmmaker Danny Boyle is the new owner of an apartment in Chelsea. He paid $1.7 million for a tri-level co-op at 334 West 19th Street for the apartment for his youngest daughter who is attending Parsons.
--Personal injury lawyer Eleanor P. Vale has dropped the price of her penthouse at Hampshire House. It is now listed for $9.9 million.
--via the NY Observer, author Caitlin Macy and her husband Jeremy Barnum, an executive at JPMorgan Chase, have paid $3.5 million for a duplex apartment at 1 Lexington Avenue. It's not their first time in the building.
--via Curbed, New York City's narrowest townhouse has to an unidentified buyer for $2.175 million.
--via the NY Observer, Philip Galanes, author, attorney, decorator, and Sunday Times etiquette columnist and his partner, architect Michael Haverland, have paid $2 million for a duplex apartment at 29 East 9th Street. The seller was Charles Gandee, a former editor at Vogue.
--via Curbed, Britney Spears' former penthouse at 14 East 4th Street has had another price cut. The three-bedroom apartment which Spears sold in 2006, is up for sale for $4.999 million, down from the $6.595 million it was listed at when it hit the market in 2008.
--via Curbed, the Greenwich Village townhouse that belonged to late party planner Robert Isabell is up for sale again. Four months it was purchased for $2.1 million, the building at 16 Minetta Lane is now back on the market with a $3.5 million price tag. The listing is here.
-- Barry Liben, the CEO of Travel Leaders Group, has paid $4.806 million for an apartment at 235 West 71st Street.
--via Curbed, the home of late abstract painter Judith Rothschild which was listed for rent for $18,000 a month has gone into foreclosure and will be auctioned off in February.

From the NY Post:
--Paul Greenwood, the former New York Islanders co-owner who has been accused of securities fraud,has listed his estate in North Salem, New York. The three properties are listed for $10 million and sit on just under 16 acres. The main house, is listed for $8 million and sits on 9.1 acres. It includes a spiral staircase that leads to a collector's display case where Greenwood showcased his collection of antique Teddy bears.
--Alvin Rosenthal, the late Leona Helmsley's brother, is selling his home on East 83rd Street. The one-bedroom co-op o went for just under $600,000. He and his wife are moving into a $1.9 million two-bedroom co-op with a balcony at 1025 Fifth Ave.
--Technology entrepreneur/investor Yigal Lichtman has closed on a $10 million unit at One Madison Park.

From the LA Times Hot Properties:
--Reinout Oerlemans, the former Dutch soap star who founded the Eyeworks television production company, has listed a Beverly Hills contemporary for $14.9 million.
--An equestrian property in Brentwood's Sullivan Canyon that was once the home of actress and activist Maxine Cooper Gomberg has sold for $4.4 million.
--from The Envelope, the latest celebrity spotted checking out apartments at The Carlyle on Wilshire in Los Angeles is rapper Akon. Larry King and Bruce Willis own units in the building.

From Berg Properties Big Time Listings:
--Joss Whedon, who created TV's "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" has sold his four-bedroom, 4,064-square-foot house in Los Angeles' Brentwood area. It was once listed as high at $3.695 million but was most recently on the market for $2.47 million.

--Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie have increased the size of their Los Feliz compound, paying $1.1 million to buy a property that his accumulated estate mostly had surrounded.

From the Real Estalker:
--Jared Followill of the bank Kings of Leon has picked up a home in Nashville, Tennessee for $1.825 million.
--Vidal and Rhonda Sassoon have listed another mid-century modern house in Beverly Hills for $17.5 million.
--Susan and Robert Downey, Jr. have picked up a rustic home in Malibu for $13,334,800. They've also bought a modern three-story live-work residence in Venice beach for $5.6 million. The building was recently used to film the reality television series Chef Academy.

From the Wall Street Journal's Private Properties:
--Papa John's pizza-chain founder John Schnatter has bought three units in a new condominium-and-residence complex in the St. Regis Deer Crest Resort in Utah for about $23 million. He bought two penthouse residences with five bedrooms each plus a unit on the floor below with four bedrooms.
--The 780-acre Yale Farm in Norfolk and North Canaan, Connecticut is on the market for $24 million. The listing is here.
--The River Stone estate, a 1,500-acre riverfront property that is one of the largest private estates in Pennsylvania, is on the market with an asking price of $24 million. The listing is here.
--from the Home Front section, Detroit Pistons owner Karen Davidson is selling her estate in Snowmass Village, Colorado for $47 million. The property is ten acres and has multiple structures offering a total of 16,000 square feet of living space.



From ShelterPop:
Tom Brady and Gisele Bundchen Find Their Suburban Dream Home

Live at P. Diddy's Former Pad

A Pillow That Fights Wrinkles?

Milan's Most Fashionable Bed?

Are JLo and Marc Anthony Heading for the Hills?

Tavern on the Green Auctions Treasures for the Home

Kardashian Sisters Launch Home Fragrance Line

From Cityfile's Buyers and Sellers:
--70 Broad Street which hit the market for $45 million in September is now listed at $30 million. The listing is here.
--via New York Magazine, Beach Boys lead singer Mike Love and his wife, Jacquelyne, have put their renovated three-bedroom apartment at 300 East 93rd Street on the market for $2.35 million. The listing is here.
--via Curbed, the townhouse at 19 East 70th Street that currently houses the Knoedler Gallery has gone on the market. It has eight fireplaces and coffered ceilings and is listed for $59.5 million.

--Richard Pesin, a vice president in Bruce Ratner's Forest City Ratner Companies and the real estate firm's director of retail development has paid $4.1 million for a penthouse apartment at The Prime on West 14th Street.
--via the NY Observer, fashion designer Georgina Chapman and her brother Edward, who serves as chief executive of her Marchesa fashion label, have paid $1.7 million for a condo at 99 Jane Street that it is believed was bought either as a residence for Edward or as a guesthouse for friends and family.
--The Park Avenue apartment belonging to the late Alice Polk Rutherfurd has been sold for $2.5 million to Marc Packer, a partner at Skadden Arps, and his wife, Caroline Packer, the vice president for public relations and special events at Saks Fifth Avenue.
--Restaurateur Kiwon Standen, who co-owns Bar Blanc in the Village, has paid $2.38 million for a three-bedroom apartment at 31 West 12th Street.
--David Boies, the trial lawyer who represented Al Gore in the contested presidential election of 2000, has picked up a new apartment on Fifth Avenue. Boies and his third wife Mary paid $7.75 million for a 35th-floor apartment at the Sherry-Netherland. The apartment first went on the market for $9.95 million in April.
--via the Real Deal, Olatz Schnabel, the estranged wife of Julian Schnabel paid $5.5 million for a 4,256-square-foot townhouse at 38 King Street in the West Village.
--Blackstone senior managing director Prakash Melwani has sold his three-bedroom co-op at 876 Park Avenue for $5.875 million to Greg Mondre, a managing director at private equity firm Silver Lake Partners, and his wife Alexandra, a managing director at Goldman Sachs.
--Gisele Bundchen has finally closed the deal on the sale of her New York City townhouse. It sold for $12.95 million.
--via the Real Deal, Ravi Singh, a managing director at Credit Suisse, has sold his four-bedroom apartment at 15 CPW for $25 million. He bought the seventh-floor apartment in 2008 for $15.87 million.
--Jewelry designer Anna Bulgari has sold her two-bedroom apartment at 31 East 79th Street, it sold for $3.49 million to society fixture Liliane Peck.

From Chicago Tribune's Elite Street:
--Former WBBM-Ch. 2 reporter and morning news anchor Stacia Dubin and her husband have paid $2.725 million to buy a home Glencoe, Illinois and the pair have sold a 21st-floor condominium unit in a Gold Coast high-rise for $720,000.
--Bluff's Edge, an 18-room, Georgian-style mansion in Lake Forest is on the market for $6.495 million. The listing is here.

From the Chicago Tribune's Elite Street:
--Portland Trail Blazers forward and Chicago native Juwan Howard has paid $2.55 million for a three-bedroom,unit in the Trump International Hotel & Tower, buying the 53rd-floor unit through his JAH trust. Other athletes in the building include former Bears quarterback Rex Grossman and Blackhawks right wing Patrick Kane.
--Miami Heat guard Dwyane Wade has paid $1.425 million for a four-bedroom, 3,476-square-foot town home in River West.
--Former Bulls forward Antonio Davis has taken a loss on his six-bedroom mansion in Burr Ridge, selling it for $2.75 million. Davis paid $3.125 million for the house in 2006 and most recently had listed it for $3.299 million.

From the LA Times Hot Properties:
--A 13,500-square-foot home in Tarzana with a tennis court and koi pond, an underground garage that fits 16 cars is being put up for auction. It was once listed at $9.775 million and cost more than $7.5 million to build. The minimum bid will start at $2.1 million on Dec. 5. The property website is here.
--Personal trainer Bob Harper of "The Biggest Loser" has purchased a home in the Hollywood Hills for $2.9 million.
--Robert Loggia has sold his longtime Bel-Air home for $2.95 million.


From Cityfile's Buyers and Sellers:
--Rod Aldridge, the founder of British outsourcing company Capita Group, has picked up a place in New York for $13.75 million at the Superior Ink building on West 12th Street.
--via the NY Observer, Doug Von Allmen, a venture capitalist and victim of alleged Ponzi-schemer Scott Rothstein, has put his duplex apartment at the Time Warner Center on the market for $18.45 million. The listing is here.
--Bank of America portfolio manager Raymond Cubero and his wife, Kathleen Comerford, have changed brokers and dropped the price of their Trump Tower duplex. The four-bedroom "smart house," is down from a high of $14.995 million to $12 million. The listing is here.
--via Curbed, architect Dean Maltz has paid $3.4179 million for a four-bedroom apartment at the Metal Shutter Houses at 524 West 19th Street.
--Gisele Bundchen has officially sold her triplex penthouse at 347 West 11th Street. The 1,700-square-foot apartment, which originally hit the market for $10.9 million sold for $4.4 million.
--Steven "Mac" Heller, the former head of investment banking at Goldman Sachs, has sold his three-bedroom apartment at 14 East 75th Street for $4.725 million.
--via Newsday's Real LI, Billionaire Ron Lauder has sold a 2.77-acre estate in Wainscott for $5.256 million to his daughter Aerin Lauder Zinterhofer.
--Former Ariba CEO Lawrence Mueller and his wife Mary Kay have gone into contract to sell their condo at 15 Central Park West. The three-bedroom apartment which the couple first listed for $16.5 million in May was reduced to $15.5 million in October.
--Alex Acquavella, the son of top NYC art dealer Bill Acquavella, has paid $3.9 million for an apartment at 50 Gramercy Park North.
--Melvyn Blum, a retired EVP at Vornado Realty Trust, has sold his apartment at the Trump International for $6.4375 million.
--via the NY Observer, the Rothschild Mansion has undergone a price cut for the third time this year. It was once listed as high as $35 million and is now listed for $25.5 million. The listing is here.

From the NY Post:
--A four-bedroom condo at The Dakota is in contract for $11.5 million after once being listed for as much as $24 million. The buyer is Mark Fisch, managing partner at Continental Properties, a New Jersey-based real estate firm.
--Nicolas Cage's Olympic Tower condo at 641 Fifth Ave. has just closed at $7.5 million.

--At 76 Crosby St., where Kelly Ripa has a duplex penthouse there was a bidding war for a 2,578-square-foot apartment with a $4.35 million listing price. The two-bedroom home with a deep soaking tub in the master bedroom suite is now in contract after about three months on the market.The new owner will share the second floor with Gawker Media boss Nick Denton. The listing is here.

From the Wall Street Journal's Private Properties:
Fashion mogul Tommy Hilfiger has finally sold Stone Hill, his Greenwich, Connecticut home for $20 million. He first listed the estate more than a year ago for $27.9 million.

--The heirs of a California builder have listed the 600-acre Middle Ranch, the getaway spot of film director Cecil B. DeMille, for $28 million. The listing is here.


From the Chicago Tribune's Elite Street:
--Chicago Bears player Dusty Dvoracek has sold his Lake Villa home to teammate Juaquin Iglesias for $344,500. Dvoracek purchased the home in 2006 for $365,000. In January he listed the home for $389,900.
--White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel has rented out his four-bedroom, 2,719-square-foot house in Chicago's Lakeview neighborhood for one year for $4,995 a month. Emanuel purchased the house in December 1998 for $695,000.
--Nancy Hughes, the widow of filmmaker John Hughes, has bought a 17-room, 6,700-square-foot English country-style house in east Lake Forest, about a block from Lake Michigan, for $5.2 million.

From the Real Estalker:
--Real Housewives of Atlanta's Kim Zolciak is not moving to Los Angeles and is staying put in her Atlanta, GA area townhouse condo.
--Zsa-Zsa Gabor may have lost as much as $10,000,000 in the Madoff scandal and has had a $118,000 tax lien placed against her Bel Air Road residence. An unpaid tax lien can force the sale of a property if the debt is not paid.
--LaToya Jackson has seen condominium at the Regency Towers inside the Las Vegas Country Club in Las Vegas, NV taken away from her in foreclosure proceedings. Rumor has it that she now lives in a condo in one of the tall apartment towers that line Wilshire Boulevard near Westwood and Century City.
--Actor Gale Harold has listed a four-bedroom duplex in Los Angeles for $1.3 million.
--Ali Larter and Hayes MacArthur have picked up a four-bedroom home in Los Angeles for $2.925 million.
--Nicolas Cage has listed a three-bedroom home in Newport Beach, California for $995,000. He bought the home in 2006 for $1.7 million for his father who recently died. The listing is here.

From Berg Properties Big Time Listings:
--Actor Rob Lowe and his makeup artist wife, Sheryl Berkoff, have sold a six-bedroom house in Montecito, Calif. for $7.6 million.
--A look at "Harry Potter" actor Rupert Grint's real-estate empire: two country mansions plus another house, all worth about 9.2 million pounds.

From Brickwork: The London Property Blog:
--via Telegraph, Suzie Quatro, best known to U.S. fans as Leather Tuscadero from Happy Days is selling her mansion 'Hyde Hall' for £2.3 million. The listing is here.

Now through November 19, artnet Auctions is featuring Faces & Figures, a special sale of 375 photographs by famous artists including Nan Goldin, Santé D'Orazio, David LaChapelle, Helmut Newton, Bert Stern and Pamela Hanson. The stunning sale features several nude supermodel portraits, including a nude of Carla Bruni by Hanson from 1994, vastly underestimated at $1,500 - $2,000 considering an identical one sold over the summer for $18,000. Other highlights include nudes of Frederique Van Der Wal from 1990 by D'Orazio, $1,000 - $1,500; a sexy snap of Gisele Bundchen by Mark Seliger (above) from 2000, estimated at $8,000 - $10,000; and a nude Gisele astride a horse by Walter Chin, $4,000 - $6,000. A nude of Pamela Anderson by LaChapelle is expected to fetch $18,000 - $24,000, and there several famous nudes of Marilyn Monroe by Stern. Also included are portraits of rock stars including the Rolling Stones, artists like Warhol and Basquiat, and celebs like Jackie Kennedy and Marlon Brando.

From Homes and Property UK:
--Singer Eddy Grant has listed Bayleys, his 15-bedroom Barbados plantation house for £19 million (around $35 million). The listing is here.
--Guinness heir Henry Channon has listed his nine-bedroom, Thameside home on Cheyne Walk, shown above, for £25 million. The listing is here.

From the NY Post:
--While in New York City, Jude Law is staying in a downtown penthouse at the Novare building on West Fourth Street. He is renting the three-bedroom 3,500-square-foot unit with 20-foot ceilings and a terrace for an undisclosed price. The apartment is also listed for sale at $7.8 million with Reid Price of Brown Harris Stevens. The listing is here.
--Matt Damon has been spotted in and around the Belnord rental building at West 86th Street and Broadway.
--A five-story Gramercy Park townhouse is back on the market for $12 million. It was listed at $18.5 million price three years ago. The listing is here.

From Shelter Pop:
--A look inside Speidi's (Heidi Montag and Spencer Pratt) new love nest courtesy of the Real Estalker.
--Peer inside the loft of Emily Robison, of the Dixie Chicks.


From Cityfile's Buyers and Sellers:
--via Curbed, retired tech exec Lawrence Mueller and his wife Mary Kay have dropped the price of their three-bedroom condo at 15 Central Park West. It was listed at $16.5 million and is now at $15.5 million.
--via the NY Times, Steve Mnuchin, a former Goldman Sachs executive, founder of Dune Capital, and son of Bob Mnuchin, is looking to unload his duplex apartment at 740 Park. The five-bedroom spread is being shopped around with a $37.5 million asking price.
--via Curbed, the West Village townhouse that was once home to writer/urban activist Jane Jacobs has sold for $3.3 million after four months on the market.
--Whoopi Goldberg has gone into contract to sell her two-bedroom New York City loft.

--The triplex penthouse at 895 Park that belonged to the late movie producer and clothing entrepreneur Charles Evans has finally found a buyer. It was purchased for $15 million by Robert Weisz, the CEO of the commercial real estate company the RPW Group, and his wife Cristina.

--via the NY Observer, Brett Icahn, the son of billionaire Carl Icahn, had paid $2.9 million for a penthouse duplex at the Piano Factory building on West 46th Street.
--via the NY Observer, Italian mogul and former Formula One boss Flavio Briatore is renting out his four-bedroom apartment at the Plaza for around $65,000 per month. The apartment was up for sale for $38 million.

--Amalgamated Bank CEO Derrick Cephas and his wife Donna paid $4.425 million for a five-bedroom apartment at 610 West End Avenue.
--Martha Stewart's daughter Alexis Stewart has put her duplex loft at 27 North Moore Street back on the market again. She tried to sell the apartment for $12.4 million in both 2007 and 2008. It is now listed for $12.95 million.
--via the NY Observer, actor Daniel Radcliffe has paid $5.65 million for a five-bedroom New York City townhouse.

From Berg Properties Big Time Listings:
--"Soul Train" creator Don Cornelius has listed a two-bedroom, post-and-beam house in the Beverly Hills, Calif. postal area for $1.95 million. The listing is here. He also paid $1.475 million to purchase a 3,499-square-foot house on a flag-shaped lot in Los Angeles' Beverly Crest area.
--Author and comedian Steve Harvey has his 19-room mansion in Plano, Texas on the market for $3.5 million. The listing is here.


From Fanhouse:
--Cleveland Browns quarterback Brady Quinn has listed his home in Avon Lake, Ohio for $775,000. The listing is here.

From Rented Spaces:
--Short on rent? Here are the details on throwing a gold party.

From the LA Times Hot Properties:
--LAPD Chief Bratton and his wife Rikki Klieman have reduced the price of their Los Feliz home to $1.49 million.
--Dr. Richard Ellenbogen who has starred on 'Dr. 90210' has listed his Sunset Strip home for $3.495 million. The listing is here.
--Rocky Oaks Estate, a 37-acre Malibu estate, has come on the market for $65 million. The listing is here.

From SocketSite:
--Twitter co-founder Evan Williams has purchased a San Francisco home for $2.4 million.

From the Wall Street Journal's Private Properties:
--Gisele Bündchen has gone into contract on her penthouse in New York's West Village. The latest listing price of $4.5 million was less than half the original, September 2007 price tag of $10.9 million. She bought the condo in 2002 for nearly $3 million. Her townhouse is still on the market for $13.95 million.
--Eric Clapton is renting out his 45-acre Antigua estate for $50,000 a week.

From CNBC:
--America's most luxurious golf homes.

What's the sexiest photo ever to appear on Luxist? There are a few contenders for that title, but Michel Comte's nearly-nude shot of Gisele Bundchen featured in a Christie's auction last year is hard to top. That image is just one among many eye-poppers in the Swiss photographer's massive new monograph from teNeues, Thirty Years and Five Minutes. A trained art restorer and self-taught photographer, Comte came to prominence in 1979 with his first advertising commission for Karl Lagerfeld's fashion label Chloé. One of the top names in fashion and magazine photography, his work fetches tens of thousands of dollars at auction and has appeared in Vanity Fair, Vogue and many others. Included in the book are portraits of Sharon Stone, Jeremy Irons, Mike Tyson, Cindy Crawford (above) and a number of nudes including one of Carla Bruni. The volume spans Comte's entire three-decade career and includes his most iconic images.

The listing for Bernie Madoff's Palm Beach, Florida home is up. It is listed for $8.49 million with Corcoran.


From the LA Times Hot Properties:
--Former Baltimore Ravens cornerback Chris McAlister has listed his Beverly Hills Post Office area home at $7.9 million. The listing for the five-bedroom home is here.
--Actor Jerry Douglas, who has played "The Young and the Restless" patriarch John Abbott since 1985, and his wife, Kymberly Bankier,have re-listed their Encino home for sale at $2.695 million.The listing is here.

From CNBC:
--Obama's next-door neighbor in Illinois is selling. Check out a slideshow of the home here.

From Shelterpop:
--Inside all three of Madoff's properties--Montauk, NYC, and Palm Beach, oh my!
--Fashion Designer Anna Sui's East Village Fantasia
--Debbie Gibson Sells her Home Just in Time to Avoid Foreclosure--is it worth $900,000?

From AOL Real Estate:
Scandal in Malibu, a bank executive moved into the foreclosed $12 million home she was supposed to be taking care of over the summer. The property website for the home is here.
Is it smarter to rent or buy in your city, find out here.

From Move Trends:
Frank Sinatra's former 7 bedroom, 13 bath, Mountain Center, California home listed, Villa Maggio which was listed for $4.995 million last year is now listed for $4.9 million.

From the NY Post's Gimme Shelter:
--Former New York Jets star Curtis Martin is reconsidering a penthouse triplex at One Brooklyn Bridge Park, which he first looked at two years ago. He is hosting NFL's opening weekend this Sunday in the building's screening room.
--Bernie Madoff's Montauk beach house has at least four offers.
--Composer Adam Guettel, who won a Tony for "The Light in the Piazza," has bought a four-bedroom apartment at The Osborne building from clothing-store mogul Marcy Syms. We checked it out as an estate of the day earlier this year.

--Apollo Global's Joseph Azrack has purchased a 6,250-square-foot townhouse at 24 W. 11th St. with a listing price of $14.9 million.

From the Wall Street Journal's Private Properties:
--Former Fannie Mae chief executive Daniel Mudd has sold his 1927 colonial home in Washington to a company that caters to relocating executives. Mudd was asking $9.5 million for his six-bedroom home.


From Berg Properties Big Time Listings:
--Nobel Prize-winning economist and New York Times columnist Paul Krugman has sold his one-bedroom co-op unit on Manhattan's Upper West Side for $565,000.
--A Malibu home that actor Steven Weber owned until selling it in 2007 has come back on the market, this time for $4.295 million. The listing is here.
--Actress Julie Bowen has sold her home in Los Angeles' Studio City area for $2.1 million. We checked it out as an estate of the day when it was listed at $2.695 million.


From the Real Estalker:
--Tennis player Kim Clijsters and her husband basketball player Brian Lynch paid $772,000 for a three-bedroom home in Wall Township, New Jersey.
--Actor John Krasinski has listed his starter home in West Hollywood for $1.245 million. He paid $1.050 for the home in 2006. The listing is here.
-- Tionne Watkins, a.k.a. T-Boz from TLC has listed her Duluth, Georgia home for $1.25 million. She bought the home in 2001 for $1,122,700. The listing is here.

The modeling industry, as with other luxury-linked businesses, has been struggling in the sluggish economy. Agencies and designers alike are more cautious with their spending making a coveted modeling contract even harder to get these days. But for the elite models, top earners as measured from June 2008 through June 2009, the modeling world does not hold any obstacles. Still making millions, gaining new contracts and diversifying their stakes between endorsements, catwalks and reality shows, such well-known models as Gisele Bündchen (#1) and Heidi Klum (#2) haven't lost anything in the changing marketplace.

These top-models can be likened to professional athletes whose contracts and million-dollar-checks don't decline with the fluctuating economy. A-Rod and Kobe Bryant won't see a decrease in their earnings just because Wall Street is fickle. I would doubt Hollywood's top earners are affected either. It seems when it comes to celebrities, whether cover girls, sports entertainers or the silver screen's finest, matters of the world economy just don't hit home. I bet those millionaires who made their wealth through investments, business transactions and real estate are wishing they could have been blessed with long, lean legs and dynamite smiles right about now.

Russell James has what is indisputably one of the best jobs on Earth - photographing naked supermodels for lots of money. The Australian lensman has shot numerous ad campaigns for Victoria's Secret as well as sizzling spreads for Sports Illustrated's Swimsuit Issue. His amazing new XL monograph is just out from teNeues, publishers of the beloved Luxury series. Gisele Bundchen (on the book's cover, above) and Heidi Klum start stripping at the mere mention of his name, it seems. Aside from the eye-popping images, however - we wish we could show you some - James' story is also inspiring, as told in his introductory essay, "Trash Cans to Supermodels in Nine Easy Steps." Actually it's a lot more complicated than that. You can order a copy here.

On Nov. 19, Christie's in London will auction off a stunning collection of photographs including some provocative shots of the world's most beautiful women. From a purely aesthetic standpoint the highlight of these is this 2000 portrait of Brazilian bombshell Gisele Bundchen by Mark Seliger, estimated at $9,000 to $12,000 - a relative bargain compared to Martin Schoeller's 2003 Angelina Jolie with Blood, est. at $23,000 - $39,000.

Also included in the sale: Albert Watson's 1993 nude Kate Moss, Marrakech, est. at $23,000 - $31,000; David LaChapelle's 1999 Britney Spears, Baby, est. $23,000 - $31,000; Michel Comte's 1996 James King, New York City, est. $6,000 - $9,000; and Gavin Bond's 2007 snap of Victoria's Secret stunner Adriana Lima, est. $5,000 - $8,000.

Prices for top-quality, unpolished diamonds may be falling but a pair of big sparklers did quite well at Christie's today. The Ponahalo diamonds, two rectangular cut stones, of approximately 102 and 70 carats brought in a total of $6.16 million. They sold to a Middle Eastern buyer at Christie's in New York. The bids came in anonymously over the telephone but after the buy, the buyer, Mr Amer Radwan of Dubai asked that the auctioneer reveal his name.

A portion of the proceeds from the sale of the Ponahalo diamonds will be donated to Russell Simmons' Diamond Empowerment Fund, benefiting educational programs in Africa.

Gisele Bundchen's jewels also did fairly well. Her yellow diamond ring which had a high estimate of $20,000 went for $30,000.