TWO French backpackers with a taste for fine clothes had a shock when they were caught shop-lifting designer wares and spent the night holed up in the City WatchHouse instead of a hostel.

Sophie Laure Carrere, 24, and friend Marie-Anne Sars, 23, pleaded guilty together from the prisoner’s dock in the Brisbane Magistrates Court on Wednesday charged with stealing.

Despite a rough night spent in watch house browns, Carrere said her stay in custody was not as terrible as she thought it might have been.

“The food was really good!” she said.

“Everyone was really nice, we met some nice people and it wasn’t so terrible. Obviously, I would have preferred to have been in the hostel.”

But she wasn’t keen on staying in Brisbane much longer, with plans to head to Sydney next.

Police prosecutor Sergeant Scott Pearson said the girls were caught shop-lifting at Myer on Queen Street at 3.50pm on Tuesday.

He said the women had selected items from within the shop and then cut off the tags with wire cutters.

The court was told Carrere had taken a black top worth $20, a skirt worth $35, a Sass and Bide top worth $99.50 and briefs worth $44.95.

Sgt Pearson said she had wire cutters in her possession as well as a gram of cannabis and 10 seeds.

He said Sars, who was found with two adjustable spanners, took a pair of shorts worth $99.95 and white jeans worth $279 that were damaged when the label was tampered with and they became stained with dye.

Sgt Pearson said the total value of the clothing the women stole was $378.95.

Defence lawyer Rachel Cavalli said Carrere had been travelling in Australia for seven months and had only been in Brisbane for two days before the shop-lifting incident.

She said Carrere previously worked in Brisbane as a waitress.

She said Sars had been in Brisbane for four months and was living in a city hostel.

Ms Cavalli said both women spent a long night in the City Watch House.

Magistrate John Costello fined Carrere $500 and Sars $400.

He ordered Sars pay $378.95 in restitution for damage caused to the stolen clothes.