Fancy hitting the town in the latest Dior dress with an outrageously expensive Louis Vuitton bag on your arm, but don't have the cash to afford even the clasp?

The fantasy is no longer a pipedream for thousands of women in Paris, the world's fashion capital, where renting luxury clothes and handbags is beginning to catch on. A new service has started that allows fashionistas to rent Dior, Gucci, Saint Laurent and other luxury label handbags for as little as 10 euros a day. A 4,500 euro classic Chanel black shoulder bag can be rented for 25 euros a day, although customers have also to cough up 20 euros in insurance and pay for a courier to deliver the bag to their door.

Yann Le Floc'h, founder of the Instant Luxe website, which already sells secondhand designer clothes and bags to its 1 million members, said the site was responding to a new "pattern of consumption" where women see no shame in renting their wardrobe.

"We are changing our consumption habits from ownership to use. And people are not renting just for special occasions, but to treat themselves," he added.

According to Fashion expert Julie El Ghouzzi, who heads France's Luxury Goods and Creation Centre, the millennials of "Generation Y [those born during the 1980s and 1990s] are completely ready for the fashion rental market."

"They already have all their lives stored in clouds, so not ‘possessing' something by having it in their hands all the time is not a problem for them."