Babetastic bargains

THE RICH, as we know, love a bargain. The famous rich love a freebie. Failing that, they’ll move hell and high water to get to a sale, as two Australian expats, Shelli-Ann Couch and Kate Nobelius, discovered when their old friend Richard Tyler, an LA-based designer, asked them to organise a sale of some of his samples. Heartened by the success of that, the pair branched out into multi-designer offerings and, finding subsequent sales mobbed by up to 1,500 of Hollywood’s elite shopaholics, including Portia di Rossi, Clare Danes, Naomi Watts, Debra Messing and Heather Graham, they realised that there was a gap in the market — for discount sales that catered to the Chanel and Jimmy Choo-wearing set.

Five years on, encouraged by Tamara Beckworth, they have brought Billion Dollar Babe to Britain. With clothing from Temperley, Clements Ribeiro, Missoni, Pringle, Diane Von Furstenberg, Philip Treacy, Agent Provocateur, Gharani Strok, Catherine Malandrino, Melissa Odabash and Esther Franklin, they are offering items priced at up to 70 per cent off for last summer’s stock. Sara Berman alone has sent in 500 pieces, Pout will be on site to apply gloss to lips (always essential when shopping, don’t you find?) and the complimentary bar is thanks to Perrier Jouet champagne, Peroni beer, Coca-Cola and Fiji water. The entry fee of £2 goes to Fashion Targets Breast Cancer.