Avenue Montaigne, the bosom of luxury French style | M6 | 66 minutes

They are the most expensive 615 meters in Paris. Chanel, Dior, Armani, Cartier, etc., the most extraordinary window displays lie before the gaze of the wealthy male and female customers who step out of their chauffeur-driven Bentleys. A little further down the street, the Plaza Athénée, symbol of the Avenue Montaigne, welcomes fortunes from Asia and the Middle East. The name Avenue Montaigne has a magic ring throughout the entire world for anyone who wants to see, to taste or to purchase French-style luxury. With its haute couture stores, luxury hotels and rich tourists, security problems and pockets of “real life”, we take you behind the scenes of the most luxurious avenue in Paris. We live the daily life of the “Plaza”, the lungs of the Avenue: with 146 rooms, 45 suites and a staff of 570, the hotel operates as a world apart. We also spend time with the manager of one of the avenue’s luxury boutiques: how do you satisfy customers who are ever more demanding? How much do wealthy tourists spend? For the long-term residents of the Avenue its transformation into the temple of fashion does not make for an easy life: it’s now impossible to buy a simple baguette of bread. There is not one single food store left on the Avenue. We meet the senior residents of the neighborhood, who tell us how it has changed. In an age of globalization, competition is even more ferocious in the luxury market. For 30 years the Comité Montaigne has been working to promote the image of the Avenue in France and abroad. We follow the work of Valérie Bamberger, its deputy chairperson. Meeting the managers of newly-opened boutiques, organizing communications operations, it’s her job to bring life and activity to the Avenue: “We have to be special, to be united. The Avenue Montaigne must not become a “dead” street.” How do you stand out from the competition? How do you maintain your draw? Behind the luxury window displays, inside the Haussmanian apartment buildings and in the suites of the Plaza Athénée, we reveal the secrets of a mythical neighborhood of Paris.