Michael Kors Wins Over Europe's Fashionistas

Sophie Fiszman, a finance executive in Paris, used to buy only European fashion brands such as Louis Vuitton and Gucci. Now she shops at the Michael Kors store on Paris’s posh Rue Saint-Honoré. She recently bought a blue python-print bag at the store and was pleased that she’d found a purse she liked for less than €300 ($412). “The price is very good for what you get,” says Fiszman, deputy chief executive officer of OFI Asset Management. “I like the new style they have.”

New York-based Michael Kors has found a niche as an accessible—in other words, less expensive—luxury brand with the look and feel of a higher-end label. By producing goods at lower prices and adding a dash of American novelty, the label appeals to cost-conscious European consumers who still want high style, says Allegra Perry, an analyst with Cantor Fitzgerald in London.