November 17, 2008

EUROPE | RUSSIA | MOSCOW

Moscow’s Latest Gold Rush

By Suzanne Steinert

The bling still sings in the world’s most expensive city.

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If you’re one of Russia’s 130,000-plus millionaires (or just a Ukrainian prostitute looking to settle down), it pays to be in Moscow this month. On November 27, the Millionaire Fair — the ne plus ultra of obnoxious exhibitions — returns for the fourth year to the world’s most expensive city. Over 200 brands will set up shop for the four-day trade show, which social activists protesting in Munich recently called “an obscene display of perverse wealth.”

Inside the showroom (pictured), you’ll find gorgeous women showing off the latest must-have ultra-luxe toys (helicopters, Hummers, private islands). You can expect everything from cigars to mattresses, jacuzzis to cell phones to be dripping in gold and diamonds (last year’s highlights included a Swarovski crystal-encrusted Mercedes and a giant, solid-gold Christmas tree). If this sounds like brazen extravagance in the face of global economic meltdown, it’s comforting to know there’ll at least be financial advice available to the growing cadre of humbled oligarchs still wishing to fulfill their Midas fantasies, responsibly.

Another plutocratic shopper’s paradise, Barvikha Luxury Village (pictured), can be found in Rublyovka, a suburb often dubbed the Beverly Hills of Moscow. This month, the Barvikha Hotel & Spa opens in the Village for a test run, and will officially welcome guests in January 2009. Conceived by Antonio Citterio, creator of Milan and Bali’s Bulgari Hotels, Barvikha’s 65 rooms feature private terraces, Frette bed linens and teakwood marble baths. Touted as Moscow’s first luxury spa hotel, the wellness center (Dominique Chenot Spa) includes 14 treatment cabins, plus a restaurant serving organic, vegetarian dishes. (The hotel’s main eatery is helmed by molecular gastronomy maestro Anatoly Komm.) But don’t worry, Barvikha doesn’t skimp on the bling: the workout room boasts a Citterio-designed Kinesis Personal Gold exercise machine, trimmed in 24-carat gold leaf, and one of only 100 ever made.