For the world’s luxury market, the first tremors of the trouble to come were felt in the first quarter of last year in the US. In March, Neiman Marcus and Saks, the luxury US department stores, started to report slowing sales.

By the end of the year, caution in the US luxury market had turned into full scale panic. Saks and then Neiman started slashing luxury prices by up to 70 per cent in the run up to the holidays, putting pressure on smaller luxury retailers and brands.