Europe's recently-named fashion capital almost certainly isn't the city you'd expect.

Moscow has now overtaken Paris as the European city with the most shopping centre space, despite a recession that has forced Russians to cut back on spending.

The Russian capital now has more than 4.53 million square metres of shopping retail space, compared with 4.5 million square metres in Paris, according to real estate consultancy, Jones Lang LaSalle.

Moscow has been named Europe's fashion capital, boasting the most square metres of shopping retail space

However, experts told the Moscow Times that they expect a slump as the economic downturn catches up.

The new economic reality will likely end a trend of massive mega-malls and instead spur smaller shopping centres that are cheaper to manage.

'Small format shopping malls have great potential on the Moscow market since there are not enough of them,' Olesya Dzyuba, head of research at real estate firm Colliers International Russia, told the newspaper.

Nevertheless, a record six shopping centres have already opened in Moscow this year, measuring a total of 343,000 square metres.

Many considered Paris to be the premier shopping destination, given its prolific fashion houses

Despite the economic downturn, Russia has been consistently opening mega-malls in its capital

The mega-malls, which are only now opening, were actually in development long before the crisis began.

Unfortunately, because of the economic realities now, many retailers are no longer excited about developing their chains in Russia.

Some expect the sharp slowdown to happen in 2017, when the number of new shopping centres will be reduced, as well as their size.

However, smaller complexes are not popular in Russia. Just look to the city's mega-mall, Avia Park, which opened last year at 228,500 square metres.

It is Europe's largest shopping centre.