Despite the economic crisis, 2009 ended better than it began for the French luxury goods sector, thanks largely to China’s growing taste for high-end products, encouraging thoughts of a better 2010.

Following the trend set by other global luxury brands, Hermes and LVMH announced fourth quarter sales growth on Thursday and Friday, suggesting the worst of the crisis could be over for the sector.

After announcing that annual profits fell 13 percent to 1.7 billion euros (2.3 billion dollars), LVMH chief executive Bernard Arnault said he was pleased with “record” sales figures for December, which he said would “grow in January”.

Chinese tourists to France increased their spending massively on tax-free luxury goods last year despite the economic crisis, overtaking cash-strapped Russians.

The Chinese bought tax-free goods worth 158 million euros (222.5 million dollars) in France in 2009.

That was an increase of 47 percent from the level the previous year, according to Global Refund, a company specialising in tax-free shopping for tourists.

Former U.K. prime minister Tony Blair is set to take on a highly-paid advisory role at at luxury goods group LVMH.

Blair is understood to be in the final stages of negotiating a six-figure pay package at the group, which is owned by France’s richest man Bernard Arnault.

Blair already gets £2.5m from the U.S. investment bank JP Morgan and a further £2million as an adviser with the finance firm Zurich.

A survey just released in China has lifted the lid on the nation’s obsession with luxury brands and identified just where consumers are spending their money.

The 2009 21st Century Deluxe Report (www.21deluxereport.com — in Chinese only) says that China’s love affair with luxury shows no signs of abating.

According to one Professor Lu Xiao (Fudan University), who was in charge of the survey, decisions on spending made in China are now “knowledged-based.”

Megha Mittal will buy the luxury fashion house Escada for an undisclosed price, the company said on Thursday and keep CEO Bruno Saelzer onboard.

Escada, an international fashion group for women’s apparel and accessories has 182 own and 225 franchise shops in more than 60 countries.

Earlier, in August the iconic fashion house filed for insolvency after declining sales had a negative impact on the balance sheet of the company.

Bloomberg reports that Gianni Versace will shut down its stores in Japan as there is decline in the demand for luxury goods.

The fashion company has three stores in Japan, one in Osaka, one in Tokyo and one in Chiba according to the Versace website.

Versace, which entered Japan in 1981, isn’t the first brand to take this step. Last year Louis Vuitton scrapped its plans to open a store in Ginza, Tokyo.