Dubai has seen some epic struggles as property firms vie to outshine each other. There’s Emaar’s battle with Nakheel to build the world’s tallest skyscraper with the snazziest apartments and penthouses. There’s Damac’s attempt to lure buyers by offering free Jaguar cars. Hotelier Sol Kerzner says his forthcoming Atlantis villas, next door to his extravagant new hotel on the tip of the Palm Jumeirah, offer “the best address in the Middle East”.

Now the stage – or should that be cat-walk? – is set for a celebrity smack-down. Giorgio Armani, Donatella Versace, Karl Lagerfeld and the Fendi fashion label are all creating apartments and villas for sale.

Armani is selling 144 apartments and penthouses above and below his first branded hotel in the Burj Dubai, the world’s tallest building. Versace is opening her second Palazzo Versace – the original is on Australia’s Gold Coast – on Dubai Creek and will have about 170 homes for sale. Lagerfeld will design homes for an island in The World, a collection of man-made islands in the Gulf. And Fendi is furnishing and fitting out apartments in a downtown skyscraper (Lagerfeld, the creative director of Fendi but not involved in this project, will no doubt be an interested spectator).

Which will the fashionistas favour? Armani has the best view. Residents will be able to soar to the top of the Burj Dubai and look down on Versace’s low-rise development. The rooms will be a tasteful mix of Asia meets Arabia – all “greiges” and dark woods. Peta Jacobsen of Hamptons International, sales agent for the Armani project, says: “It’s about understated elegance, which certainly appeals to a different customer than Versace.” There will be a restaurant based on Avoce, one of the most upscale Italian restaurants in New York, owned by London-based Marlon Abela, the man behind Morton’s private club and the acclaimed Japanese Umu. Prices for apartments start at about £2m.

Armani may have real estate bragging rights but he has no waterfront. Guests at Palazzo Versace have a beach, and not just any old patch of sand. A sub-surface cooling system will ensure it never gets so hot that they risk singeing their pedicured feet as they totter from the beach to the bar and back.

Initially, the project’s engineers experimented with the idea of moisture sprays that would spread a thin film of water over the sand every few minutes – until they realised that it would mean the sunbathers having to tramp across wet sand in their designer flip flops. So they have come up with a grid of cooling pipes laid under the sand with chilled air passing through to carry away the heat.

Further respite from the Dubai heat will come from chilled water in the swimming pool and plenty of built-in shade on the beach – all in accordance with Dubai’s strategic sustainability plan, say the developers.

The interiors of the Versace villas will blow a bright red Italian raspberry at Armani’s less-is-more aesthetic. The look will be Donatella-goes-to-Vegas and some of the larger homes will have cinemas and spa-style saunas. Villas start at about £3.2m.

Lagerfeld has signed a deal with the investment group Dubai Infinity Holdings to design properties on Isla Moda, billed as the world’s first fashion archipelago. The venture will have Chanel-themed villas and penthouse apartments in the French label’s trade-mark black and white, with swimming pools in the shape of the Chanel logo. Other top designers are expected to be signed up for Isla Moda.

To keep the place a sun-kissed, beautiful retreat for sun-kissed, beautiful people, buyers are by invitation only and so are visitors. The first set of villas, known as the Winter Collection, is due to go on sale next month, starting at £1.5m. Boat not included.

Fendi has created 16 apartments at the Sky Gardens project at the Dubai International Financial Centre. The homes range from studios and two-bedroom apartments to penthouses. If you really must, you can Fendi monogram virtually anything in the property, even the fridge. Alberto Vignatelli, of Fendi Casa, says: “The project is a true architectural icon.” Prices are from £900,000.

Each couture crib has a style for every reason, for every season. And that, as any fashionable homebuyer will tell you, is how life should be.

Armani apartments, 00 971 4367 3333, www.armanihotels.com; Versace villas, 00 971 4341 8663, www.palazzoversace.ae; Fendi apartments, www.fendi.com; Isla Moda, 00 971 4807 8888, www.dubaiinfinity.com