Leave the penny pinching to the recessionistas. For some, the boom hasn’t ended. Incredibly, the good times were still rolling at Boucheron’s 150th anniversary party, held in London earlier this month, the same day that global markets tumbled and the government unveiled its £400 billion bank bail-out. The jewellery house gathered its favourite people for a treasure hunt. Guests were split into teams, given a chauffeur-driven car filled with champagne and dispatched on a mission: to find fantastical objects that corresponded to such enigmatic clues as “enchanting”, “voluptuous” or “danger”. The team returning with the best booty would win a £26,200 diamond Trouble pendant (pictured) and other jewels worth £100,000. Naturally, the competition among the gem-loving crowd, which included Alexandra Schulman, the editor of Vogue, Natalie Massenet, the Net-a-Porter founder, the nightclub entrepreneur Amy Sacco and the heiress and fashion icon Daphne Guinness, was intense. One team found a live python to represent “danger”, another a tarantula in a cage. Vanity Fair’s Elizabeth Saltzman was the most resourceful. Where she located a stuffed black cat, to represent “curiosity”, is anyone’s guess. She triumphed in the “enchanting” category, too, bringing along Mica Paris to sing a song for the judges. No wonder Saltzman’s team went home with the prize.

If this party had happened in 2006, when City bonuses peaked at £8.8 billion (this year it’s down to £3.55 billion), such decadence would have gone unremarked. Set against the backdrop of global economic meltdown, it seems shocking. Yet, all over the world, it is pleasure as usual for the wealthy. From Roman Abramovich splashing out £200m on a 550ft super-yacht, the Eclipse, which will be accessorised with antimissile radar and water cannon, via the private jets that now come with personal make-up artists for passengers, to Purple Dragon, a just-launched exclusive Battersea members’ club for children, with fees of £3,000 per annum (Mandarin lessons and baby yoga are included), no trophy is too extravagant nor service too extreme. The shopping hasn’t stopped, either: in September, Harrods sold out of £7,000 Balmain dresses and £5,000 platinum-lined boxes of Patchi chocolates. Even in the City, it’s not all doom and gloom. One firm has just launched a £28m fund to invest in art, which, as Damien Hirst’s £111m sale proved, looks as safe as houses.

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