“Frenchness in the City”: the imaginary of French luxury in the globalized trade world

Based on an ethnographic field research conducted in New York in 2015, this article analyses the phenomenon of the dissemination of French luxury in the city retail shops. It exposes the appropriation of French luxury goods (fashion, gastronomy, luxury food, etc.) by New York’s specialized stores and boutiques, where a fascination for “Parisianity” is growing. The different types of luxury items are explored, as well as the way they are displayed in boutiques, which is key to the process of identification with Paris and France. In this world of trade urbanism both local and globalized, the connections between Paris and New York are conspicuous and the strategies of the various actors, retailers, designers, marketing professionals and government agents allow to understand the storytelling backs up French luxury in its transferring across the Atlantic.