Shopping in Europe used to be good fun. A trip to Milan, Paris or Brussels meant bringing home an article of clothing or accessory that would allow you the opportunity, when someone asked you where you got your (fill in the blank), to glowingly imply your worldliness by rattling off the Givenchy blazer purchased on your recent jaunt to Paris, calfskin Miu Miu clutch snagged in Milan this fall, all the way down to the seamed Wolford stockings you naughtily bought yourself on St. Honoré. But with the U.S. dollar in the economic doldrums, shopping in Europe nowadays feels just as depressing as walking through Soho with a $5,000 limit Mastercard.

While American’s ethnocentrically think we’re the only geniuses who came up with outlet shopping phenomenon, truth be told — the Europeans picked up on the idea, too. Value Retail’s “Chic Shopping Outlet” group offers travelers nine shopping villages dotted throughout Europe, each hosting 50 to 100-plus stores with 30 to 60 percent off last season’s collections from labels like Christian Lacroix, Agnes B, Burberry, Pringle, Cacharel, Marithe + Francois Girbaud, Kenzo, Givenchy, Longchamp, Lalique, M Missoni, Wolford and more. That means you can purchase a Lacroix poufy dress in Paris’s Le Vallee Village without feeling like you just sold your soul to the devil to do so. Sounds like a plan, oui? www.chicoutletshopping.com — By Marina Cashdan