Byline: by Liz Jones
LET ME tell you a story about Victoria Beckham. I once persuaded Patrick Demarchelier, one of the world's top fashion photographers, to shoot her for an exhibition of signed prints of famous women, all of which would be auctioned to raise money for research into breast cancer.
Victoria brought along her young son, Brooklyn, to the studio in Paris. Demarchelier took many photos of Victoria, one of which went on the cover of the magazine I was then editing, while another was framed for the exhibition. He also took a beautiful black-andwhite picture of Victoria holding her son, which he sent to me.
When she found out, Victoria let me know in no uncertain terms that this photograph was not to be published or exhibited. I wrote her a note, saying that of course I respected her privacy. I also sent her the framed and signed original print, worth many thousands of euros.
Victoria didn't even say thank you.
Fake Monogram vernis Handbags The woman -- to put it simply-- has no class.
It has just been revealed by an American financial website that Victoria has a collection of no fewer than 100 Hermes Birkin bags, worth a total of [pounds sterling]1.7million.
The only variant between these extravagant possessions is colour, skin and size (the smallest Birkin costs around [pounds sterling]2,900). Oh, and the addition of a three-carat diamond in the silver 'Himalayan' version she owns, which is worth [pounds sterling]91,000, and one of only three in the world.
Victoria's collection is impressive, certainly. But don't you agree there's something impossibly vulgar about collecting so many of these bags, at such inflated prices? They are such a garish statement -- one that screams: 'Look at me, I'm rich.' Yes, they are things of beauty, but it's the sheer volume of Victoria's collection which, ironically, undermines the intrinsic value of each one in it. Imagine owning 100 Mona Lisas? It makes any single one less important.
Once you have one, or two, or three -- or ten -- any more is simply the innate ostentation of a woman with more money than class.
The only thing I can find to admire in this vast haul of handbags is the sheer effort Posh must have gone to in getting her hands on them all.
THE waiting list for a Birkin opens only twice a year (once in spring, and again in autumn), and as soon as it's full, which happens within days, it is snapped shut. (Hermes won't reveal how many names are on the list.) It's an indication of how the super-rich have been largely unaffected by the recession that, when I call to ask if anyone has dropped out since the list closed in March, I am told no, of course not.
I am also informed that if I am feeling extravagant, I do not have a hope in hell of bagging an 'exotic' Mens Cufflinks Birkin -- one made in crocodile, lizard or ostrich -- because women around the globe have been waiting four years for one of those.
So, Victoria Beckham has evidently been very diligent and persistent in acquiring her collection, given how unimpressed Hermes is with celebrity. Unlike that scene in Sex And The City, where Samantha magically procures a Birkin when she tells the sales assistant it's for Hollywood star Lucy Liu, the list is operated on a first-come, firstserved basis.
The firm won't even reveal the precise day the list opens. Not to anyone; not even movie stars.
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