This year's N-M Fantasies...

I do so look forward each year to the Neiman-Marcus Fantasy Gifts Catalog, or, as I like to think of it, the Let Them Eat Cake Spree. 

For $90K, you can treat yourself and a couple of your pals to a fine porcelain experience. Get your creative on and work with the porcelain-os at Ginori in Florence to come up with a design that expresses your vision - and then see it get turned into a place setting for 12. Reminder not to put it in the dishwasher, and it would probably be wise not to use it at the kids' table, either. 

It's on my "watch if there's a blizzard and I'm snowbound" list, but I've never seen Emily in Paris. But for some lucky fan who's made a killing in crypto, or got out of Truth Social in time, and has $175K squirrled away, there's a chance to hang with Marylin Fitoussi, the show's "glorious, iconic, award-winning costumer designer." It goes without saying that I've never heard of her. Plus I haven't made a killing in anything. But someone might want to swan around Paris with Maylin, get styled by her to the tune of $25K, and score a professional photoshoot. 

At a lower price point - a mere $20K -  you can get a set of crystal mahjong tiles, and a fancy-arse handbag to carry it around in. "The handbag's colorful mosaic butterfly motif—a nod to Neiman Marcus's signature symbol—is bejeweled with more than 10,000 crystals that took an expert artisan 80 hours to set by hand." Wonder what that expert artisan gets paid per hour? Bet it's a lot less than Judith Leiber got for designing the bag. Still, good to see that one of the little guy expert artisans out there can make a living, 80 hours worth of a living anyway.

A nice companion piece for the mahjong bag might be a $28K pair of Miron Crosby Starry Night Boots.  I doubt it's Miron, but someone at his studio "stitches each boot by hand, combining time-honored techniques with a sartorial wit beloved by collectors and celebrities alike." Yee-haw. Nothing I like more than getting me some down-home sartorial wit. Plus them boots come with an astrological reading,

I actually don't know how well the boots would go with the mahjong bag. A pair of Manolo Blahnik's might work better. Or two - monogramming optional and free. Of course, the visit to Paris experience will run you $55K, but you do get to sip tea with Manolo's niece Kristin. Plus you'll get "to attend the UK’s first-ever Marie Antoinette exhibit at the prestigious Victoria and Albert Museum and be invited to attend one of the opening celebrations for the Manolo Blahnik–sponsored historical exhibition with a guided tour."

Marie Antoinette, you say? They really are starting to say the quiet parts out loud, aren't they?

On the other hand, the pavé  diamond studded cowboy boots might be more practical on the safari to Namibia with the good folks from Messika Jewelry. All sorts of goodies included: cameras, framed photos, and an "18.05 carat fancy yellow diamond necklace." Hmmm. For $777,777 do they really have to tell us it's fancy? Maybe that's just to warn off the rich folks who like there pricey items on the understated and not the glitzy side - although would such folks be thumbing through the N-M Fantasy Gift catalog to begin with?

Back to Marie Antoinette - or at least Marie Antoinette adjacent - the pièce de résistance of the 2024 catalog is the 18th Century Royal Family Calèche pictured above. It's certainly a rare gem. "The carved wood and iron carriage is a masterpiece, adorned on all sides with pastoral scenes that showcase the painters’ skill in immortalizing their world through polychrome paint. Each gilded panel is crowned by a Greek-style frieze and bordered by chiseled Baroque moldings, reflecting the rich blend of artistic influences present in Spain at the time."

Going for $1.9M, you might think you'd at least get to ride around in it. Alas, it's only 7-feet long and designed for a principe o principesa. Come one, can't you just see your little one's little face light up when they see this beauty under the tree?

Rich folks are certainly entitled to do what they want with their money, whether they actually did anything to earn it or not. But it sure seems to me that some folks have entirely too much disposable income on hand if they can dispose of nearly $1.9M to by a gilded child's coach.