Based on an ongoing empirical analysis, this article aims to fill this gap by linking the study of elites to the evaluation of social-spatial inequality. It challenges the dominant narrative that simply focuses on elite newcomers charmed by the pure beauty of the area by showing that it took considerable work to adapt local amenities to their tastes. Departing from the common image associated with St Tropez as a show-off place of conspicuous consumption, it additionally highlights a trend towards ‘conspicuous seclusion’. All in all, the case of St Tropez reveals how elites shape their atmosphere through the physical and symbolical power they exert over space. And פרגולות סגורות but, it’s an emblematic place to observe not only elite self-segregation, but the rise of inequality as properly. Despite its worldwide fame as a fashionable resort and dwelling place of high society, and in contrast to other elite haunts, the St Tropez peninsula has been missed by the social sciences.