Colette, the intensely hip Parisian boutique in Rue St-Honoré, is to sell Topshop’s Unique range from February 27, coinciding with Paris Fashion Week.

The opportunity to collaborate with such a groundbreaking store is the ultimate cachet for any fashion label. It will inevitably bring couture kudos to Topshop and will almost certainly launch it on to the international stage. “It does amaze us that we are being sought out by these cool, trendsetting boutiques around the world,” Jane Shepherdson, brand director at Topshop, said.

Colette is one of the most trendy, expensive and intimidating shops in Paris, specialising in design pieces from Prada to Marc Jacobs.

“It sets the standard for innovative independent boutiques in Paris and around the world,” says the fashion website Women’s Wear Daily.

According to Sarah Lerfel, creative director of Colette, the boutique’s move to stock items from Topshop is simply answering a demand for the British chain’s items. “Every young Parisian woman has been asking, ‘When is Topshop coming to Paris?’ ” she said.

The launch in Paris will coincide with UK Jack OK, an exhibition dedicated to British artistic and design inspiration that will include private photographs from Hedi Slimane, menswear designer at Christian Dior, and Suzy Menkes, fashion editor of The International Herald Tribune.

The Parisian collaboration is the latest chapter in the Topshop success story. It has already accrued a dedicated following thanks to its inimitable blend of the cheap and the chic.

Its Oxford Circus store is the biggest pure womenswear store in the world and a haven for celebrities. Reese Witherspoon delayed her Walk The Line press trip last week to go to the store for a shopping spree.

Madonna — although not attending the store in person — was seen in head-to-toe Topshop at a recent Japanese press conference. And Scarlett Johansson, recently quoted on style.com, confirmed Topshop’s place in the A-list celebrity mindset: “Topshop is crack. I spent so much money there that I had to buy an extra suitcase to come home.”

Topshop’s tour de force was producing a catwalk show at London Fashion Week in September, the first high street store to do so. It previewed its Spring-Summer Unique range to a celebrity audience including Jemima Khan, Laura Bailey and Lerfel of Colette.

So what next? “We want to establish more flagship stores. We are already looking at Paris, New York and Amsterdam. We would tailor it to those markets of course — link it with national designers,” Ms Shepherdson said.

But relying on designers may not be necessary. Where expensive boutiques dominate Paris, and vast department stores Los Angeles and New York, products from British high-street stores have a much more chic and distinctive quality, their trendiness on a par with that of designers.

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