Styleesa's Closet: Bicester Village Outlet | Discount Designer Shopping

Last weekend myself and my partner decided to visit the Bicester Outlet in Oxfordshire which we combined with an overnight stay in the beautiful City of Oxford. We opted to stay the night at the Malmaison Hotel in the centre which is an old prison converted into a chic boutique hotel with a great cocktail bar.The next day we took the short drive to Bicester.

Now, I have to say I am not a big fan of outlet shopping, yes, I love a bargain like we all do but past history states that I never have any luck at outlet stores in the UK or abroad....however, I gave discount shopping one last chance. There is a fabulous range of high end designer brands at Bicester Village, pretty much as you would expect to find on Sloane Street or Fifth Avenue.... Marni, Prada, Gucci, McQueen, Matthew Willamson, Burberry, Smythson & YSL. The biggest pull for me was the Celine outlet which I visited as soon as we arrived hoping to find some fabulous pieces from past collections. Clothing wise 40% of the stock was the Phoebe Philo collection from Spring Summer 2011 with a great selection of shoes priced around £260 (see below), but none of which were my size (how did I guess) the remainder was pre Philo so it did not have that luxe, stylish edge that she is famous for.

In conclusion, Bicester is great if you go with an open mind. If you go with your wish list in hand you may very well be disappointed. Although it says on the website that discounts are up to 60% you will find that stock discounted to this level is usually damaged or so awful you would not give it to your worst enemy. Most of the stock had around 30-40% off the RRP.

After spending 3 hours at the outlet I did manage to find one bargain and that was an ipad case by Jonathan Saunders for Smythson. I bought this for the fabulous price of £245 when they are still selling in Smythson for £395.00 so I was pretty pleased... well maybe this outlet shopping isn't so bad after all.