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WHICH writer said that hanging out with the super-rich corrodes the soul? All of them, probably.wholesale Tote bags

Jane Austen, who loathed the vulgarity of Bath,authentic Gucci Handbags would have had a field day at the Place Vendome in Paris. Home of the Ritz, this imposing 18th-century cobbled square is so flash it makes Bath look like a quaint Iceni mud village. It is also a hub for the world's most expensive jewellers, a few of whom - and this is one of the wonderful things about Paris - still have their workshops upstairs.

Louis Vuitton is the latest to lay out its jewellery stall in this most exclusive of addresses.

Along with various upmarket accessories and clothing lines, Vuitton began dipping its toe into precious metals and stones at the turn of the century.

The wealthy constantly require new toys.Coach Handbags replica They're reassured by familiar brands. Why buy an antique diamond when you can buy a patented Louis Vuitton cut with guaranteed authorship?

Displayed near the door on the ground floor of its just-opened store of the Place Vendome are what Vuitton,Garment bags in common with other luxury brands, likes to call its entry-price pieces - delicate chain bracelets with the LV monogram priced between €300 ($360) and €2500. But equally striking is the setting for these trophies.

Specially commissioned art, Titanic-sized light installations - no expense is spared.

Given how much time people spend in them, it's inevitable that stores now inform the way people decorate their houses, just as hotels did in the 1990s and noughties.

''The whole process of shopping is exponentially more luxurious than it was 20 years ago,'' Peter Marino said at the Vuitton opening party.

He should know. Most of the flight towards sybaritic shopping has been engineered by him. A Cornell-trained architect who had his first break designing Andy Warhol's home and then The Factory, Marino says his peers used to dismiss him as ''that dress-shop designer''.

He's had the last laugh, having pretty much cornered the market in upscale store design. Marino-made stores include those of Donna Karan, Zegna, Chanel, Valentino, Bulgari, Vuitton and, it's rumoured, the coming Celine makeover.

Competition from the internet merely spurs him to design bigger, glossier cathedrals to the gods of retail. ''Compared with the real thing, virtual shopping has all the joy of a supermarket,'' he says.

Luxury brand chief executives obviously find his involvement reassuring. Not that he follows their market research.cosmetic bag factory ''Most of that stuff is baloney,'' he says, his accent moving from midtown Manhattan, where he was born, to cockney.

Marino's trademarks are warm colours and deluxe materials - such as the eel skin that lines parts of the Vuitton store - lots of fancy marquetry and creating a home from home for the private jet set. Perhaps as a form of indemnity, he doesn't sell himself on his ability to add to a brand's bottom line. ''I'm not here to help companies sell more handbags,'' he says. ''I'm here to make the experience of shopping more fun, more enjoyable, more uplifting.''