I saw that this thread got re-started and wanted to chime in on my piece. Just to disclose: I'm in my late 20s and of American nationality (but I'm classified as a minority in the US) originally -will be French in a couple of years!-and I've lived in the Paris area for most of my adult life and longer than some of my French friends have but please take my observations with a grain of salt.
When I first moved to France to study, I lived in Nice, where I felt like wearing more designers items in public was much more tolerated and I saw my fair share of designers including Hermes (but usually in neutral colors). When I moved to Paris, despite living with a very bourgeois french family in the 8th, they had good quality clothes and accessories but not any major designer brands. However their home was beautiful, the family members themselves were well-traveled and very well-educated , and they had just bought a second home several years before with extended family and my host mother had been leading the charge with renovations. And my host family is not unusual in these habits in their social circle (a good number of their friends also had origins from Brittany as they did). I saw Hermes out on the street but just not very often because school/internship. This was also 2010-2011 so major economic crisis in EU and elsewhere and people wanted to be more discreet.
In between the time I moved back to France in 2014-2015, I lived in S. Korea (in the middle of the country) for two years where the Korean population is much more brand conscious but I rarely saw Hermès outside of Seoul's richer districts such as Sinsa-dong, Gangnam, Apgujeong-dong etc. However, female coworkers would comment on my Ferragamo Varas (bought vintage), leather
coach bag (also bought vintage) and my Longchamp bag. All of these items are not expensive to me but these foreign brands cost much more there and weigh more heavily as social markers than my environment back in the US (which is admittedly upper middle class) or even when I returned back to France (back in a bourgeois atmosphere both academically, socially and professionally). It goes to show that different cultures have different means of judging social status. It's why I'm very hesitant in investing in a Kelly for myself (I buy bags for family currently ) in the future because I've absorbed the french mentality of not wanting to look too 'gauche' in terms of handbags but no one will judge you here for spending a fortune on shoes, a watch, or a coat. So I stick with building my scarf collection.
Now back in Paris a little bit older and the economic crisis receding, I've seen more Hermès but still in a very subtle way. I see more leather bracelets and many watches on women whenever I work in major business districts ( around Miromesnil in the 8th, La Défense, Neuilly-Sur-Seine, Boulogne) , scarves (usually 90cm and only for brief periods because of the constant threat of rain) and occasionally bags but usually Evelynes, Bolides, and Garden Party and if a Birkin or Kelly, the opening almost always facing inward. In residential districts, I've seen one Kelly in my neighborhood (11th-12th which is more middle class) since I moved here from the 18th six months ago but of course you'll see more H bags in the 7th, 8th, 15th, 16th, lower 17th and Neuilly-Sur-Seine but definitely in a way that shows that the owners don't baby their stuff. On a daily basis, I see far more Chanel and (old) Céline bags being worn by other locals followed by APC, Le Tanneur, Lancel, Furla,
Mansur Gavriel, Polène, Michael Kors(idk why but this brand makes a killing here) and Sézane (which resells in France in a way the Hermès resells worldwide). The best time to see a huge concentration of H in Paris is when H trots out the expositions with their artisans and there are always more locals than tourists at these events. This is where you see lots of people displaying their H collection.
In addition, if you follow french influencers on instagram, Oran Sandals are a huge trend, as well as bracelets and other jewelry pieces. Also, my sales person here at Sevrès ( I personally prefer going there before FSH or GV ) noted to me that small leather accessories is what sells out first among local clientele.
And I cosign previous commenters that acute attention to the cut/quality of clothes and buying what suits your actual body type is what differentiates (a lot ) of Parisians from other populations, even the rest of France. There is also a healthy resellers market, particularly in the paris region, which is great for a currently broke student like me who likes nice things but this feature of the shopping landscape allows all demographics access to high quality items as long as you know where to look.
EDIT: I've done several edits for grammar but most recent edit was to add some more important details on bag models and brands.
. I think it was typical of French/European ladies of a certain generation, to have the one bag (for each occasion...), work it to death, and replace it when necessary. I think this is part of that utilitarian approach towards bags which is kind of different from the collector's approach (although the two can undoubtedly mix).
