Sharon Wong had decided she had earned a little indulgence as she browsed at Louis Vuitton in La Samaritaine department store, one of Paris’s marquee luxury shopping destinations.

“It’s expensive, but I’ve been thinking about it for a few months,” the thirtysomething marketing manager from London said as she examined models of the Petit Sac Plat, a small rectangular bag which costs about €1,500. “I save a bit, I think about them as investments. The top names will always have value, especially the styles with history.”

Around the corner, a clutch of suited Italians and a German family milled in the lobby of the five-star Cheval Blanc hotel, where rooms start at about €2,200 a night and staff said occupancy was running at 70 per cent and above.