Everybody knows that skiing is a pretty expensive pastime, it can be done on the cheap, no question, but by and large the people that populate ski resorts in the Alps are a not short of a bob or two. It follows that where there’s cash, there’s the opportunity to spend it. Amongst the world renown ski resorts, dotted throughout the Alps, there are plenty of specialist emporiums ready to suck the money from the wallets of the seriously wealthy. It’s big business and every top brand in fashion and sporting goods are clamoring for a slice of the pie.
COURCHEVEL 1850
At the top of the pile is this gold star French resort in Les Trois Vallees ski domain. Ever since the Russians discovered 1850, it’s risen through the ranks and in now unquestionably the wealthiest ski resort in the world, by a country mile. During the Russian new year the whole of the Moscow social scene decamps here. It’s estimated that there are around 20,000 of them in resort and they are all wealthy. The flagship stores have followed like sharks smelling blood. If you can think of a leading brand name it will have an outlet here and if it hasn’t it soon will have.
Obviously you don’t have to buy, you can have a lot of fun browsing and checking them all out, cooing over the goods on offer and the eye watering prices being charged. Are the Ruski’s being exploited? nah! they love it, if the items were cheaper they wouldn’t have the same cache, so as the prices steadily climb north the more exclusive the resort becomes. Controversially, there are at least three fur shops on the main street, as well as a Hermès, and in the Galerie d'Art de l'Alpage, there's a Salvador Dalí bronze on sale for €475,000. There were two more, no prizes for guessing where the other two finished up.
If the Russians ever tire of 1850 and decide to flock elsewhere the resort will face serious financial hardship in the short term. The resort will bounce back and become a great place to ski as it always was and still is but the Humvee’s and the Merc’s crammed with oversized security guards will be absent which may be no bad thing but while it lasts it worth checking out the resort if only for the ostentatious extravagance on display.
ST MORITZ
If Courchevel 1850 is new money, St Moritz is definitely old money and as a result has an air of elegance and class that can’t be matched by the bling of 1850. St Moritz is where it all began. The town blazed a trail for the start of winter tourism in the whole of the Alps in the late 1800’s. At the time it was a novelty and something new, the European aristocracy and the monied classes flocked here to see and be seen. The resort has never really lost it’s air of gentrification and opulence.
Via Serlas is the heart of the shopping area, where you can’t move for designer boutiques. Trois Pommes houses all of the favourites including Jil Sander, Moncler, Mark Jacobs and Tod’s, to name a few. The Lamm cashmere house is a family-run boutique that has been selling quality knits for decades. You’ll find most of the leading brands here and browsing is a pleasure for those who like to window shop.
MEGEVE
When St Moritz began to be overrun by the hoi polloi, who’d heard of it’s fame and fortune the French aristocracy decided to start their own show somewhere else and invented Megeve. It has an old money feel, much like St Moritz and is more understated than the two resorts already mentioned. All the usual suspects have outlets here but maybe the standout stores are Blu&Berry which stocks Isabel Marant, Carven, Céline among other uber trendy labels and can provide au-point après-ski outfits. Famous for inventing stirrup ski pants in 1930, the family-run shop AAllard, on the main square, is still the place to go for luxe skiwear and cashmere. You can find super-cool contemporary furniture and home accessories at Formes Et Utopie, they have some lovely pieces that would grace any home, pieces that you won’t find anywhere else. Megeve comes into it’s own at christmas and boasts a fabulous and famous christmas market. All three resorts have something for everyone if you search hard enough, it will probably be more expensive in 1850, but the Russians like it that way, so if you’re on a tight budget perhaps it’s a resort to avoid if retail therapy and not skiing is your buzz.
A night view of the glamerous St Moritz.
Famous for inventing stirrup ski pants in 1930, the family-run shop AAllard, on the main square, is still the place to go for luxe skiwear and cashmere.
The main square in Megeve comes alive at Christmas.
