The Spanish unemployment rate is 21 per cent and the youth unemployment rate is 40 per cent. Yet posh suit maker Hugo Boss expects to make more money in Spain this year than in 2007. Luxury goods companies are prospering even in countries where brewers, mobile phone operators and consumer goods companies can only sell their products by cutting prices.

The sector also benefits from China’s rise, of course. Luxury London department store Harrods says an average Chinese customer spends ￡3,500 in the shop. Goldman Sachs thinks the number of people who might buy luxury goods in China (which it defines as people who earn more than $30,000 a year) will expand from 12.5m this year to 200m in 2025.

Whenever there is this much enthusiasm for anything it is worth looking for the catch. The long-term trends behind the sector’s success – rising inequality in developed countries and rising wealth in developing ones – seem fairly entrenched. But the road could be bumpy: Credit Suisse notes that Chinese retail sales growth has slowed slightly this year; so have fine wine sales, cognac shipments, Swiss watch exports and international air travel.