When the Paris shows ended this season, the exodus of British fashion press and buyers returning to London on the Eurostar will have been joined by a new bunch of homecomers: the French. Estate agents report more wealthy French people moving to London, and there is a feeling that President Fran?ois Hollande’s new marginal tax rate of 75 per cent on earnings over €1m will increase the influx.

The French are bringing style influences from across the Channel with them. Both Isabel Marant, queen of off-duty cool, and Céline are set to open London stores, while premium chains such as Maje, Sandro, The Kooples and APC are proliferating. On the cultural front, last month the Serpentine gallery played host to a pop-up version of David Lynch’s hip Parisian club Silencio, and Paris’s fashion-forward burlesque Crazy Horse show is appearing on the South Bank as Forever Crazy.

But how will the French adapt their style to London life, and are retailers ready for them? Parisian women are known for their finesse. French Vogue editor Emmanuelle Alt, for example, epitomises the art of wearing simple, well-tailored clothes with a rock ’n’ roll edge that make anything decorative look gaudier than a Moulin Rouge costume.