We might be waiting in the UK for the John Lewis advert as the first sign that Christmas is on its unstoppable march, but in the rarefied environs of the super-rich it’s the Neiman Marcus catalogue in the United States that reminds people that Santa is loading up his sleigh in preparation.
The exclusive department store has just released its annual Christmas catalogue, and the talk of the 2017 edition is the inclusion of a set of his’n’hers Rolls-Royce Dawns in fetching shades of ‘Lago di Como’ and ‘Saint Tropez’. That's blue and orange to the uninitiated, but these bespoke cars come with a number of other special touches, including silver bonnets and fabric hoods as well as sumptuous interior packages to impress even the most cynical of the super-rich.
The Neiman Marcus catalogue has come out ever year since 1939, filled with improbably weird ideas for people who have an inverse proportion of money and imagination. Previous items have included a £15m submarine, a sarcophagus with an actual mummy inside and the most expensive item ever, a £26m private jet. Clearly the Rolls-Royces feature at the more affordable end of the spectrum – think of them as rather oversized stocking fillers.
Gallery: Rolls-Royce Dawn Neiman Marcus