Need a Holiday Outfit? Rent Couture!
Lots of women love to look through Elle and Vogue, picturing ourselves in one of those gorgeous gowns they see on the pages….but how many of us have $2,500 to spend on a dress each time a fabulous invitation comes our way?
The good news is two Harvard Business School graduates have done something to solve that problem for those of us who don’t have Oprah Money.
A relatively new site – Rent the Runway – lets women rent Designer dresses for about one tenth what they’d cost to purchase in a store.
For a four-night loan, you can rent a gown for $50 – $200 (depending on the dress, obviously). The dresses are shipped directly to customers’ doorsteps, which is realy pretty convenient. After wearing the dress, you just have to put it in a prepaid envelope and drop it in the mail. Sort of like a girly version of NetFlix.
Dry cleaning is included in the price, and damage insurance is only $5.00. If something truly unfortunate happens and the dress is completely destroyed (you know – if it catches on fire, is torn apart by wild dogs…all the typical stuff), as the renter you’ll be responsible for the full retail price. That alone should make you want to be super duper careful with that $3,995 Carolina Herrera dress.
Apparently, word gets around with something this good — more than 25,000 women have signed up for the service, and there’s even a wait to become an active customer. I know about the waiting list because I signed up the other day and was told they’ll contact me when I’m able to participate. Bummer.
Oh, and before you run off to your party wearing your fabulous new gown, don’t forget about an amazing handbag to top off your outfit from Bag, Borrow or Steal. And since trends change so quickly anyhow, you’ll be glad you didn’t shell out $1,500 for a bag that sits in your closet a year later because you just can’t understand why you ever liked it (I’m pretty sure that’s how a lot of the people who got those white Louis Vuitton bags with the pastel writing all over them feel….but I digress).
But no matter what you wear, or carry, to your Holiday parties this year, be sure and have a fantastic time and enjoy yourselves! The Holidays only come around once every twelve months, so be sure and have a wonderful time with your family and friends!
I LOVE the idea of the getting to wear a four thousand dollar gown for four hundred dollars! LOVE. IT.
I’m seriously signing up for this service. That totally rocks.
….I hope the clothes don’t look as though other people have worn them though, you know what I mean? I don’t want someone else’s deodorant stains on them – mine are enough. LOL
I LOVE these renting websites. Rent the Runway started after I had already moved, but I used Avelle, and LOVE it!. It’s great to be able to try out a bag before you decided if you want to buy it, because nice bags aren’t cheap, you don’t want to get it and then find out you hate the shoulder strap or something.
This is such a *cool* idea! I love it!
JackieK – I think it rocks, too!
Elisa – Agreed! I’d rather take something for a bit of a test drive, just in case…
Cristy – I think it’s pretty cool, too…and I just got an automated email from them re: Membership (after only a few days, apparently the wait list isn’t exactly horrendous!
).
These are such fabulous ideas!
What a cool idea – LOVE it! I have a fancy-schmancy Christmas ball to go to next year, and I’m totally gonna do this!
lol, I don’t think I would still be able to pay $200 for a one-time dress…It’s K-mart for me! Okay, not really, but I honestly can’t bear to spend more than $50 on a dress!
Maybe it’s me… I don’t like to wear someones clothes I don’t know. And Couture is always so outlandish to me it hardly seems worth the trouble. Maybe that’s why I love Jeans and TShirts so much. I dunno.
WearTodayGoneTomorrow.com has been doing this for nearly a year! WTGT rents weekly so there is no stress (RTR rents for 4 days) at 10% of retail values, ships nationally, provides refunds for dresses that don’t fit (which won’t happen with their standard sizing), and has received a ton of press including InStyle, Teen Vogue, The Today Show, People and way more… They’re amazing!!
will be that best document in my ownmind