Economic downturn hitting fashion capital?

by Megan Ferringer

Crowding through the revolving doors of the Galeries Layfayette, avid shoppers and fashionistas coming from all corners of Europe stand shoulder to shoulder, pushing their way to the bright yellow signs exclaiming “Soldes!” covering racks of clothing and accessories. Outside the department stores and designer boutiques, the amount of shopping bags carried by pedestrians dotted the busy sidewalks—it seemed a giant shopping spree was in full force.

The sight was a shocking one. Before leaving for Paris, I had been under the assumption that Paris, let alone all of France and Europe, entered a recession similar to ours, and as a result, were weaning back from less than necessary purchases.

This was at least the basis for my feature—to figure out how Europe’s down-turning economy was affecting one of the largest fashion capitals in the world. Are people shopping less and are big-name boutiques like Chanel and smaller, privately owned boutiques seeing a significant decline in sales?

The story’s concept seemed simple enough, but once arriving to Paris I found the answer was far less cut and dry than I had hoped. After speaking with several Parisians, such as students and store owners, I found that Paris was indeed suffering from a poor economy and that many shoppers were becoming over-cautious of where their spendings went.

Wanting to get a glimpse of the economy’s mean grip on boutiques and department stores, I headed to the shopping center of Paris. A seven-story department store marked the area’s center, and surrounding it were stores like H&M, Louis Vuitton and Chanel.

Every store was overflowing with frantic shoppers, starkly contrasting the claims I heard earlier on in my trip.

It wasn’t until I sat down to lunch with fashion writer Madelein Czigler at a small French bistro, that I realized how complex my story really was. The truth of the matter is, no matter how horrible the economy gets, people will always find a way to shop at their favorite boutiques and designer shoes and handbags will always hold their importance to many people.

The only negative effect that Czigler has noticed came for the smaller boutiques. Though many will forever have their loyal customers, the privately owned boutiques are having a smaller and smaller place in Paris fashion, while large department stores should continue to thrive.