Global Stage, Local Price Tag: How the Champs-Élysées Sells the World to Itself
The Champs-Élysées, Paris’s 1.9-kilometre runway of limestone and delusion, has always been less a street than a global stage—equal parts catwalk, battlefield, and cash register. On any given day you can watch a Japanese honeymooner pose with a baguette she’ll never eat, a Gulf-state prince queue for a €12 macaron, and a Parisian waiter perfect…