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SHINE Map Clothing & Accessories

01 48 05 80 10; 15 rue de Poitou, 3e; 11am-7pm Tue-Sat, 2-5pm Sun; Filles du Calvaire

Another limited but discerning collection of designer stuff in the trendsetting 3e. Young women’s clothing and some excellent shoes and handbags have been astutely selected, with plenty of Marc Jacobs, See by Chloé, K by Karl Lagerfeld and the current jewellery fetish, Bijoux de Sophie.

FRAGONARD Map Cosmetics & Perfume

01 44 78 01 32; www.fragonard.com; 51 rue des Francs Bourgeois, 4e; 10.30am-7.30pm Mon-Sat, 12-7pm Sun; St-Paul

This Parisian perfume maker has alluring natural scents in elegant bottles as well as candles, essential oils and soaps. In addition to the splendid smells, it has a small, expensive and very tasteful selection of clothing, hand-stitched linen tablecloths and napkins as well as jewellery. There’s also a St-Germain branch (Map; 01 42 84 12 12; 196 blvd St-Germain, 6e; St-Germain des Prés) and Fragonard runs the Musée du Parfum (Click here), which has its own shop.

L’ARTISAN PARFUMEUR Map Cosmetics & Perfume

01 48 04 55 66; www.artisanparfumeur.com; 32 rue du Bourg Tibourg, 4e; 10.30am-7.30pm Mon-Sat; St-Paul

This artisan has been making exquisite original scents and candles for decades. The products are expensive but of very high quality and attractively packaged. There are a half-dozen other outlets across town, as well as stands at the Galeries Lafayette and Printemps department stores.

BAZAR DE L’HÔTEL DE VILLE Map Department Store

01 42 74 90 00; www.bhv.fr, in French; 14 rue du Temple, 4e; 9.30am-7.30pm Mon, Tue, Thu & Fri, to 9pm Wed, to 8pm Sat; Hôtel de Ville

Recently renovated, expanded and dragged kicking and screaming into the 21st century, BHV is still pretty much a straightforward (though now flashier) department store – apart from its huge hardware/DIY department in the basement, with every possible type of hammer, power tool, nail, plug or hinge you could ask for.

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DRESS FOR LESS

When I shop secondhand in Paris I don’t want to rummage through sloppy piles of someone else’s has-beens. That’s fine in my own village hall, but not in Paris.

First stop on my carefully researched list of designer outlets was Mistigriff (Map; www.mistigriff.fr; 83-53 rue St-Charles, 15e; St-Charles), a shop that got rave reports online. But in the flesh its neon-lit façade screamed ‘tack’, the security guard was snarling and the heaps of strings spilling onto the floor just didn’t ooze the elegance I’d set my heart on.

One peg up but still cut from the same soulless cloth was Mouton à Cinq Pattes (Map; 01 45 48 86 26; 8 & 18 rue St-Placide, 6e; Sèvres Babylone), two shops with a €1 trough of bargains as window display. But its tightly packed rows of clothes oozed choice and at €119 the Jean-Paul Gaultier bustiers (sorry, no conical cups) were a snip of the Triangle d’Or price tag.

A pleasant surprise was La Clef des Marques ( 01 45 49 31 00; 122-126 blvd Raspail, 6e; Vavin), despite its hackles-raising door policy: surrender your handbag in exchange for a ticket or keep it and be searched later. I swallowed my pride and left an hour later with a last-season Emilio Pucci ski top (€50), classic Ralph Lauren jumper (€80) and a note in my diary to bring my husband here for business suits next time. Its extensive designer lingerie (loads of Calvin Klein), children’s fashion (Le Petit Bateau, Diesel, Ralph Lauren) and sportswear sections were equally impressive.

I could have spent all day browsing les bonnes affaires – a mix of last-season leftovers at half the price and the current season’s collection costing 10% to 15% less – on Rue d’Alésia, 14e (Map; Alésia). Fascinating was the rail of prototypes of this summer’s frocks in Cacherel at No 114. There was only one of each design and each a taille unique (one size), but at €90 what a find. Exiting the metro station, walk west along rue d’Alésia to uncover its line-up of outlets, including Sonia Rykiel in the SR Store at Nos 64 and 112, Sinéquanone and Dorotennis at No 74, and Naf Naf