The vulgarians of Verbier: The Russian oligarchs' playground where they spend, spend, spend

by VINCENT GRAFF

Last updated at 09:16 28 December 2007


The sparkle in the nightclub waitress's eye is every bit as glittering as the diamonds discreetly nestling in the necklaces around the room.

But her elegant demeanour slips for a split second. This is no ordinary tray of drinks she's carrying.

It's a huge ice sculpture in the shape of a ski chalet, full to the brim with Krug Grand Cuvee champagne, Hennessy Paradis brandy and other "secret ingredients".

Proudly billed as "the world's most extravagant cocktail", it costs nearly £5,000 a pop. No wonder she doesn't want to drop the thing.

Tonight is the opening-night party of Coco, "the first luxury VIP club in the Alps", in the glamorous Swiss ski resort of Verbier.

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verbier

This place has long been one of the most expensive in the Alps - and therefore, probably, on earth.

But now its opulence has moved up a notch. This season, it is home to the £5,000 cocktail, the £50,000-a-week chalet and the £500,000 impulse purchase. The reason? The arrival of the Russian oligarchs.

Their ludicrous wealth, combined with the brash City boys with big bonuses and Sloane Ranger chalet girls spending Daddy's money - not to mention the grand old British families that have always skied here - means there have never been more visitors eager to spend money.

No wonder Verbier has put on its glad rags and is ready to party like never before.

The man behind the Coco Club is Harvey Sinclair, a Londoner in his late 30s who sold his online recruitment firm two years ago for £55 million, and has now gone into business with three Geneva-based oil-traders.

Their spending has been lavish. The club's wallpaper is hand-painted, its curtains are fur and one of the walls is covered in £30,000-worth of gold leaf.

It's minus 12 outside, but here inside it's baking hot. I can't remember the last time I was in a room with so many beautiful people.

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Verbier

The women are all wearing lip-gloss, wispy blonde hair, strappy tops and short skirts. The men have sharp jackets, polo necks and broad smiles on their faces. (Did I mention that there's a group of 20 models in town for a fashion show?)

The men's smiles don't budge even after they've seen the prices of the drinks. A Mojito cocktail is £50. The cheapest champagne costs more than £100 a bottle; the most expensive is nearly £11,000.

There's an incredibly optimistic mood about the place. Tillie Spencer, a 23-year-old model in a black lace Prada dress and dazzling red lipstick, is in heaven.

"It's my first time in Verbier and I cannot believe how beautiful it is. In fact, it all looks a bit too perfect. But not in a bad way. It's like being on a film set," she says.

Over the din of booming dance music, Colin Barber, a Brit who runs one of the resort's best-known bars, Pub Mont Fort, agrees the resort is on a high. "Obviously, looking around this club you can see the level of wealth here," he tells me.

"Back in the Eighties, Verbier was quite Sloaney. But now it's high-end - bankers, property developers, people with multi-million pound bonuses from the City.

"Verbier has doubled in size in the 19 years I have lived here. Today it's really thriving."

As if to prove his point, I get talking to a group of three City boys in expensive floral shirts and designer jeans. If the recent jitters in the British economy have affected their bonuses, you'd never know - or maybe they're still spending last year's.

"I try to come a few times every season, mostly for weekends," says Nick, the youngest of the crowd. "But I spend the real money when I come out for a whole week.

"I bring a gang of mates, and the chalet alone costs us £15,000 to £20,000. More, if we do it properly. And that's before we hit the bars."

Perhaps his bravado has been fuelled by the £100-a-mouthful cocktails but it's clear he's not embarrassed to talk money with me. There are no points, in his eyes, for consumption that is not conspicuous.

One local female estate agent in her mid-20s, says: "What I love about this place is that everyone wants the same thing: we're hardcore skiers, we want to go out on the slopes and then get lashed afterwards. It's young, it's exciting.

Verbier

"That's why there are hundreds of people flying in from London every weekend. I live near the airport and I saw seven private jets land in 20 minutes on Friday night."

She adds: "Six or eight of us can easily go out and spend 5,000 Swiss Francs [£2,200] a night on booze here. It isn't difficult."

The City boys and their pals and hangers-on are only following in the footsteps of the showbiz set. Attracted by the natural beauty of the mountains and the brilliant skiing (not to mention Switzerland's generous tax regime for wealthy foreigners), Verbier is temporary or permanent home to many well-known faces.

Across the room from me tonight in the Coco Club are the model Jodie Kidd and the TV presenter Patrick Kielty. Princes William and Harry are regulars at Colin Barber's bar. Phil Collins has a home a few miles away, as does fellow singer James Blunt - who has, bizarrely, had a ski-lift named in his honour.

Hugh Grant, Jemima Khan, Victoria Beckham and Jamie Oliver are all regular visitors. These showbusiness faces are symbolic of the huge influx of new money into the town - people who have made their fortune and who see no reason why they should apologise for spending it as they wish.

There's certainly plenty for them to spend their cash on. Over recent days, the town has seen the unveiling of three new venues that look likely to leave a permanent mark on the place.

Coco is just the start. Next week, Richard Branson officially opens what is probably the most expensive ski lodge for hire in the world. Once a bare wooden shack, he has spent £3.5 million on a lavish makeover on The Lodge.

Guests will get an underground swimming pool and spa, nine staff and a personal chef - and a bill at the end of a week's stay in high season for £57,000.

OK, this price covers accommodation for 18 adults; but it does not include the cost of your ski pass, "though we're happy to arrange that for you when you get here," according to the general manager of the property.

More oddly, even after paying so much for their board and lodgings, guests will be ordered to remove their shoes every time they come in from outside.

Just down the road from The Lodge is Verbier's third new opening, a brash-looking art gallery selling expensive pop art to a young crowd.

Huge Andy Warhol images of Mickey Mouse and Santa Claus (his beard drawn in diamond dust) peer out on to the street from Gul Coskun's gallery, which is attached to the front of one of Verbier's best-known hotels, the Rosalp.

Coskun, who also owns a gallery in Chelsea, is selling works by Warhol, Robert Indiana and Roy Lichtenstein. To give you an idea of the calibre - and cost - of her collection, consider this: Picasso is relegated to a back room of the gallery.

Her most expensive work is a Warhol portrait of Muhammad Ali, on sale for £500,000. She is also selling an aluminium sculpture by Robert Indiana that spells out the word 'love' in huge capital letters for £350,000. (Those on a tighter budget may like to know that Warhol's diamond-encrusted Santa is a mere £35,000.)

Like any art dealer, Coskun sees nothing wrong with the prices she charges. "I think people want to live with something that's fun," she explains. "And these works represent value for money because they're investments.

"And I always say to my clients: 'If you ever get bored with a piece, bring it back and I will resell it.' It's like a lending library."

The most bizarre thing about Coskun's shop is that it is aimed at the impulse buyer. No one wakes up in London and decides to make a trip half-way up a Swiss mountain in order to buy a piece of art.

Instead, her customers are people who find themselves walking past her gallery after a hard day's skiing, wander in on a whim and end up spending half a million pounds.

"They're not coming to Verbier in order to buy," she admits. "They're here already."

If all this in-your-face spending appears extraordinary to you - and perhaps leaves you feeling a little uneasy - it may surprise you to learn there are plenty of people in Verbier who also find it unnerving.

For Verbier is a peculiar place. For 30 years the favoured destination of some of the world's richest folk and best skiers, it's always been a lot less formal and snobby than its Alpine rivals St Moritz, Courchevel and Gstaad. Traditionally, it's been happy to welcome the ski bums alongside the squillionaires.

"It's shabby-chic,' says Charlie Berman, 49, a modest millionaire City banker who's been visiting the place since first arriving 25 years ago on a budget package holiday. 'It's always been a jeans and T-shirt environment where everybody mucks in."

But all that is now under threat. Berman owns a stunning place called Chalet Kernow, where Jamie Oliver has stayed, which will set you back £30,000-a-week if you want to book it for the February half-term.

An immensely likeable chap, he insists that although Verbier has always attracted the seriously wealthy, it's primarily a sporting venue. But he admits: "I think that with the way the resort is developing, there is a probably a concern that the nature and character of Verbier will change."

I can't see whether he's crossing his fingers when he assures me that this will not happen.

For in this day and age, conspicuous spending means one thing: the Russians. Call it xenophobia, resistance to change or perhaps common sense, but some people fear if the Russians arrive, it'll be time for everyone else to up sticks.

One British-born businessman based in the Alps, and speaking on condition of anonymity, says: "You have only to look at Courchevel, which has already been taken over by them. They've got so much money and such a terrible attitude. It's 'I want, I pay, I get, I don't care.'

"You can see how that would change the atmosphere here. Verbier is a place where a multi-millionaire sits in the same bar as a ski bum and they talk to each other. But in Courchevel, the Russians say to the owner: 'I'll give you 500 Francs to get rid of him.'"

Film-maker Alexis Reid, another regular visitor to the Alps, says: "The Russians aren't there for skiing. The women sit in the restaurants in strappy tops and tight shorts. There's no way they are going on the piste. They make it quite clear that this isn't what they're there for."

The thing is that, in the past, Verbier's visitors were not the type who went on holiday to pose, preen or shop. Sure, if they managed to fit in a little dancing in the evening after a day's skiing, they saw nothing wrong with that. But the main purpose of their trip was to ski.

Even Fergie, a regular at the amusingly naff Farm Club which still packs the dancefloor with tracks by the Eurythmics, was here for the powder rather than the Prada.

And, to be fair, out on the slopes over the past few days, I've seen remarkably little designer skiwear. The problem is that refined types such as Berman may, in a few years, find their tastes and sensibilities booted out of the way by a younger, brasher crowd.

The question is whether Verbier will lose its 'shabby chic' reputation and become a vulgar spend, spend, spend economy.

Fiona Sweetman, who works for the Ski Club of Great Britain and has been coming to the resort for eight years, says that the raft of new openings in Verbier "represents a turning point, I think".

If that's the case, it's certainly not a concern for gallery owner Gul Coskun. "My typical client is young - no older than 45 - and very hardworking," she tells me proudly. "We have movie stars, bankers, people from all walks of life."

She calls that "all walks of life"? Only in Verbier.

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