On Saturday night the windows of the Celine boutique on Avenue Montaigne came apart, and the merchandise behind them went into the street.
In Bordeaux a Decathlon on Rue Sainte-Catherine was looted and then set alight, with flames climbing the building’s facade.
The company closed most locations early, but the scale of the violence outran both private security and the police response.
Luxury has spent two decades converting its shops into civic architecture, part museum, part stage set, with guards at the door.
Retailers now face the arithmetic of reopening: replacement stock, repaired stonework, and staff who spent a night behind a shutter.
The street has always been fashion’s most convincing set, and this weekend it reminded the industry who owns it.
