Paris: Big sale markdowns this month

A great place to max out your sale leverage is to shop at the outlet stores for your favourite brands. These places already have 30 to 60 percent markdowns on items left over from last season. When the sales roll around you get an extra 30 to 50 percent off. That's a great deal in any currency.

Check out the Zadig and Voltaire outlet in the Marais, for instance. Zadig and Voltaire is one of the staples (along with brands like A.P.C., Isabelle Marant, Comptoir des Cotonniers, and Vanessa Bruno) of the fashionable Parisian’s wardrobe. You can find their famed loose cashmere sweaters in muted tones of moss, plum, and chocolate as well as a chic line for girls under 12 called Zadig and Voltaire Little for girls up to age 12. Cecilia Sarkozy, France’s First Lady and leading fashion icon, was wearing a pair of white Zadig trousers on election victory night last month.

Le stock Zadig et Voltaire is located at 22 rue du Bourg Tibourg, 4th. M° Hotel de Ville.