Global hunger for luxury goods means big bucks for the Paris fashion industry even though high unemployment and weak growth are making European consumers more thrifty.

Japanese designer Yohji Yamamoto kicked off a week of glitzy displays in the first major show of the Paris autumn-winter collection late on Sunday, parading models in oversize men's suits with coats draped like blankets over their shoulders.

?Hiding the body is always mysterious and sexy?, the soft-spoken Yamamoto told Reuters after the show. ?It's not like those tiny little cheap things.?

Catwalk shows are a costly affairs for fashion houses but they are an important publicity event, with companies hoping to lure consumers' attention not only to the clothes displayed but also to a brand's accessories such as hand bags or perfumes.

At this season's shows, fashion houses are set to spend millions of dollars on gifts and renting exclusive locations such as Paris's giant Grand Palais for their shows.

Paris's fashion firms have had a good year, analysts say, and more is to come, thanks to a growing luxury-hungry middle class in countries such as the United States, China and Japan.

But even money-conscious consumers, who aim to keep a tight watch on their wallet, are tempted by expensive goods.

?There is the so-called 'trading up, trading down' phenomenon?, one Paris-based sector analyst said.

?You have consumers who accept to go to discount stores to buy some things, in order to free up purchasing power on higher valued goods, such as jewellery and leather goods?, he said.

Lindsay Owen-Jones, chief executive officer at L'Oreal SA, the world's largest cosmetics company, said he noticed a similar phenomenon.

?Everything I see is that it is the top of all our ranges that is performing best. It's a very paradoxical situation?, Owen-Jones said earlier this month.

?Every time I see a new mini-BMW pull out of a garage it makes me hysterical. That is money I should have. Our competition is not only cosmetics manufacturers. It's about all those people who sell these unnecessary luxury products to my consumers. They even sold one to my wife!? he said.

European economic growth shuddered to a near halt in 2005, as healthy German exports failed to compensate for a chronically weak domestic market. In France, consumer spending was solid in January, but economists said the situation remained fragile. Analysts said big fashion firms performed well.

LVMH, the world's biggest luxury goods maker, has said sales grew 11 percent last year, lifted by Louis Vuitton leather goods and champagne. It is due to publish its full year results on Thursday.

PPR, Europe's biggest non-food retailer and home to the Gucci designer label, has said luxury sales rose 13.4 percent in the fourth quarter of last year and continued their strong trend in the first weeks of January.

In another sign goods promoting an image of elegance are selling well, French perfume and cosmetics sales set a fresh record in 2005 despite a difficult economic year, data showed.