Paris has introduced extra security measures to reassure the rich and famous in town for Haute Couture Fashion Week of their safety in the wake of a series of high-profile robberies.

Additional bodywand scans and identity checks will be in place at luxury events taking place across the French capital this week, as well as bag inspections. Armed military personnel have been stationed at some of the city’s most popular monuments, including the Grand Palais, where many of the fashion houses' high-end shows and parties are taking place. Cement barriers, too, have been installed.

Paris Haute Couture Fashion Week run all this week Credit: AFP or licensors/ALAIN JOCARD

The measures are part of Operation Sentinelle and come months after socialite Kim Kardashian West was held at gunpoint before thieves made off with £8.6 million worth of jewels. Six weeks later, Bollywood actress Mallika Sherawat was attacked in her apartment in an apparent botched heist. And in November two Qatari sisters were targeted in their chauffeur-driven Bentley on the way to the airport, when three balaclava-clad robbers took valuables worth £4.3 million.

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Deena Aljuhani Abdulaziz, a Saudi princess and editor of Vogue Arabia, told the New York Times last year: “There’s no question in my mind that these robberies will play heavily on the mind of shoppers and travellers from the Gulf.”

There has been an increased security presence in the French capital since 2015 Credit: AFP or licensors/ALAIN JOCARD

The luxury shopping sector is big business for the city, with an estimated €10 billion spent annually, according to Bain & Company, a business management consultancy, with nearly two thirds of that attributed to foreign visitors.

And the city’s tourism chiefs are keen to protect them.

“Paris is the first tourist destination in the world,” François Martins, deputy mayor in charge of tourism in the French capital, said. “Incidents sometimes make headlines, for example about Kim Kardashian, but these acts are very rare and exist in all cities in the world.”

He added that police statistics show that burglaries have fallen by 11 per cent from 2013 to 2016, and violent robberies by 28 per cent.

“We are therefore safer in Paris today than three years ago, and as well safer than most other major cities,” he said.

Paris has seen its security concerns rise and visitor numbers fall ever since the Charlie Hebdo shootings and November attacks in 2015. In November, French authorities announced a plan to revive its ailing tourism industry, including the introduction of mobile police station at key spots and new English-speaking “tourism volunteers”.

A state of emergency remains in place across the country, and will do so until at least mid-July.

The Foreign Office says there remains a high threat from terrorism across France.

“Due to ongoing threats to France by Islamist terrorist groups, and recent French military intervention against Daesh (formerly referred to as ISIL), the French government has warned the public to be especially vigilant and has reinforced its security measures,” the Foreign Office advice states.





