2 Experience All Four Tennis Majors with Sloan Stephens: $555,000 "As a VIP guest of Sloane Stephens (the 2017 U.S. Open champion), the recipient and a guest will get unprecedented access to all four majors. From Paris to London to New York and Melbourne, they’ll enjoy a week at each tournament, sitting in a VIP box with close friends and family of Sloane Stephens, staying in player-only hotels, and going behind the scenes of each prestigious event. The ace: At each course, they’ll have the opportunity to get in on the action, going head-to-head with Stephens in a private 45-minute hitting match."<doc-sep>Lifestyles of the rich and the famous: They involve elaborate weddings, hyped-up beauty products, and supposedly, for some, a strong and humbling dose of frugality. We’re fascinated by how they live and what they buy. What do the wealthy even gift each other when they seemingly have access to everything they could ever want and need — or, at least, buy? We sometimes get to see via celebrities, like when Kylie Jenner received a custom $1.4 million black Ferrari with red interiors and butterfly doors as a “push present,” or when Oprah sent Mindy Kaling a full library’s worth of books in an intricately carved bookcase as a baby gift. And during the holiday season, the luxury department store Neiman Marcus gives us a small window into this type of spending with its infamous fantasy gifts list. Every year since 1959, Neiman Marcus has put together a curated list of truly extravagant gift ideas. The outrageous suggestions on the fantasy gifts list have included diamond bracelets for $248,000, a $15,000 edible gingerbread house, luxury linens for $55,000, a $1.5 million rose-gold airplane, and a $425,000 VIP package to the Academy Awards. The list lives in Neiman Marcus’s Christmas Book, the annual catalog it sends around ahead of the holiday season, and has earned both ire and praise for its celebration of excess. I recently spoke to Mimi Crume Sterling, the vice president of corporate communications and PR at Neiman Marcus, whose team puts together the list, about how Neiman Marcus manages to find the most grandiose holiday gifts, how presents these days are now pivoting to include more experiences, and why it’s so much fun to talk about the spending habits of rich people. Chavie Lieber What is the history behind the fantasy gifts list? Mimi Crume Sterling Stanley Marcus, who was the son of the founders of Neiman Marcus and led the company for decades, basically wanted to surprise and delight customers, especially during the holidays. He was a brilliant marketer and into stunts. Craziness is the wrong word, but he had an insatiable curiosity. People from around the world used to call him, asking him to find gifts for their wives or mothers, and said they were looking for things “no one has ever seen before.” He brainstormed ideas with his brother and decided to make the list as a publicity stunt. Over the years, it’s evolved into a highly anticipated holiday list. Chavie Lieber What have been some of the wildest gifts on the list in the past? Mimi Crume Sterling We’ve listed suits of armor for $20,000; we’ve had a pair of real, authentic mummies for $16,000 that we had to obtain a death certificate for. We’ve had camels, which we actually sold, as well as hot air balloons. Another year, we sold his-and-hers Jaguars, where his was a Jaguar car and hers was a jaguar [fur coat]. Eight or nine years ago, we sold a beautiful mermaid tail for $10,000 — and this was way before you could buy simple ones for kids. Chavie Lieber What are some gifts on the list this year? Mimi Crume Sterling We have a yacht that is 74 square feet and was designed by our fashion director. There’s a custom statue from the artist Bjørn Skaarup, who designed the hippo statue in the tutu out front of Lincoln Center in New York City. He will make a custom statue for $200,000, and the package includes a trip to Italy for two, where you will visit his workshop. We have an in-person consultation with Colleen Atwood, the Oscar-winning costume designer who just finished making the costumes for Fantastic Beasts [and Where to Find Them], who will make you an outfit. There’s also training to become a secret agent for $315,000, which is a weekend for four and includes jumping out of a helicopter, learning how to stunt-drive, and solving a “mission” in Las Vegas. Chavie Lieber Who finds these gifts? Mimi Crume Sterling It used to be run by one woman [who’s since retired], Ginger Reeder. She did a very good job, but there were a lot of people at the company who were excited about the idea and wanted to be involved, so we formed a committee. We get hundreds of submissions for the list, coming from all over the world. Brands, manufacturers, or artists all reach out to us, and then we work to bring their ideas to a fantasy level. Chavie Lieber So the point is to curate a magical list we drool over but which has stuff that nobody actually buys? Mimi Crume Sterling The goal of fantasy gifts is to get publicity; it is not to sell them. We always think if we do sell any of these, it’s sort of a bonus. But do people actually buy? Yes, they do. Chavie Lieber Who? Mimi Crume Sterling People who don’t need another suit or another handbag but still have fantasies and money to spend. Last year, we sold an all-access, first-class trip to golf’s Ryder Cup, and a golf aficionado from the Midwest bought it [for $250,000]. Someone who is an art fan would definitely pay $200,000 for the custom sculpture from Bjørn — and that’s still a fraction of the cost of the $1.4 million piece that Banksy just shredded! Two years ago, we sold a sleepover at our downtown store in Dallas for $120,000. We didn’t think anyone would buy it, and then it was bought for a group of six ladies from Florida. They got their hair and makeup done; they wore gowns and precious jewels and slept on these beautiful beds we put together, which were monogrammed with their names. They said it was the most fun they’ve had. It was special for them. Chavie Lieber It sounds like a lot of the fantasy gifts that sell have experience components, which speaks to current trends of shoppers valuing experiences over stuff. Are rich people hungry for experiences too? Mimi Crume Sterling I think what we’ve been seeing, and this isn’t necessarily new, is that at the top of everyone’s fantasy gifts list is time. Time is the most valuable commodity. So whether it’s a trip to India or time on an amazing yacht, it’s important for people to take time to make memories that are important to them. So while we do have gifts that include sculptures [and] costumes, they also include trips, so that you can go home and have a mind full of memories. We look back at the 1980s as a time of consumption; there was opulence and an outward flashiness with spending. I think today, a lot of our customers want to have rich experiences. And by rich, I mean memorable. Chavie Lieber Sure, but by rich, you also mean something no one else can afford to buy, right? Mimi Crume Sterling Yes, access is important too. All of these gifts provide access that a normal person off the street would not be able to to have. I think that for [the wealthy], access — and getting their hands on the inaccessible — is what they aim for. Chavie Lieber Why is it so much fun to ogle the gifts of the rich? Like, the prices on this list should make me mad, but I’m fascinated instead! Mimi Crume Sterling The curious minds always want to know how other people live, whether that’s the 1 percent or your neighbors down the street. It’s fun. I remember watching Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous when I was 7 or 8 and loving it. I thought, “Oh, my god, people really have gold bathtubs?” It’s just magical and sort of mysterious, and I think it keeps people dreaming, just knowing what’s out there. Chavie Lieber Has Neiman Marcus ever gotten any negative feedback about this list? I remember reading how people were upset when the fantasy gifts list was unveiled right around the time Lehman Brothers went under in 2008. Mimi Crume Sterling When the crash happened, we had an internal discussion about whether we should still launch fantasy gifts, and we made the decision that in a time of uncertainty, the holidays should still very much be alive. I hate to say this, but because of the crash, would you not air Christmas movies? Would you not have Santa at the mall? We didn’t see our list as a means to pressure people into buying; we are just keeping a magic of the holidays alive. We also have a charitable component, where every gift has a charitable donation as a part of it. But, of course, we will always have our skeptics out there, and fantasy gifts is not for everyone. Want more stories from The Goods by Vox? Sign up for our newsletter here.<doc-sep>
Congratulations, you're a Mega Million-aire! That's the good news. The bad news is that your friends and family might turn their noses up at your reasonably-priced holiday gifts, knowing how much you have in the bank. Lucky for you, the Neiman Marcus 2018 Christmas book just dropped. And while the hot pink blue tooth speaker shaped like a life-size French bulldog retailing for nearly $4,500 is nice and the $850 Dolce & Gabbana x Smeg four slice toaster for $850 is practical, it's the presents from the fantasy gift section that will really make the recipients rejoice. Allow us to upgrade you with some of the pricey gifts. Old you gives luggage tags. New you gives a trip to India, Nepal, Bhutan and the Maldives. Get ready to "give someone the world" as NM promises. For the bargain price of $630,000, four folks can board a private jet for a trip that takes them to India, Nepal, Bhutan and the Maldives. At the destination, recipients will "travel through secret spots in the Taj Mahal, observe tigers in their natural habitat on a private safari, watch the sunrise from Mount Everest Base Camp, and so much more." ) Old you gives a neon sign for someone's man cave. New you gives a "Vice House." If you've got $250,000 why buy someone a house, when you can give them "a hideaway of indulgence?" And whatever is this escape for? According to the book: "Whether it's fine Corenlius & Anthony cigars with 50-year-old whiskey or marathon gaming sessions with friends, the Vice House is just the place to indulge freely." Freely, but definitely not for free. Old you commissions a very realistic painting of your friend's pet. New you gifts a giant bronze sculpture. Fur parents really love their fur babies, so why not think big when it comes to a gift. Big, like Bjørn Okholm Skaarup's Hippo Ballerina which surpasses 15 feet. Sure this gift is expensive, it begins at $200,000, but it includes a trip to Florence to iron out the kinks of the piece. And the description of the gift is so enticing, you might even want to pick one up for yourself. "Envisioning your dog as a 14-foot tap dancer – or something more realistic such as a life-size tribute to your cat? Should you desire an entire carousel of dancing animals for your backyard, it can be done." Envisioning our favorite #DogsofInstagram in bronze as we type. More:What's the most outrageous item in the 2017 Neiman Marcus Christmas Book? More:See the $1,425 'destroyed' sneakers now on sale at Neiman Marcus