So we all know how it is. You get invited to a wedding or a formal event, you put it on your calendar, and forget about it until a week or two before. Then you realize, "Oh crap! What am I going to wear?" So you head to the usual stores, Cache, Lord and Taylor, Nordstrom, Bloomies, etc. No luck. Nothing fits, everything is hideous, so you head back to your closet to square one. You rummage through your old dresses, try a few on, and ultimately decide that you are desperate for something shiny and new.
This is where I want to shed some light on the above situation and invite you to fall in love with formal events again. Three words......Rent The Runway. Oh yeah. A friend of mine swears by it. When she told me about it, I was excited and pissed at the same time. Why hadn't I thought of this? What a simple idea! Thinking about all of those sorority/fraternity formals I went to in college and swapped dresses with a friend so we wouldn't have to wear the same dress twice. (As if!?). Why didn't this exist when I was in college, when formal events were so frequent, they practically rang in each season?
This website is genius. They break it down into designers and occasions to make searching for the perfect outfit a breeze. The occasions range from different types of weddings, (beach, country club, city, rustic), to sorority formal, to beach vacation, with so many in between. You can also search by your age group, length, color, neckline, body type, etc. If you click on a dress you like, it will pair it with suggested accessories. So you literally do not have to think at all. It is all put together like your own personal stylist.
I can walk you through it. For example, I love this dress: http://www.renttherunway.com/shop/designers/tibi_dresses/blackzepplinminishift
You can rent it for 4 days for only $65 when it actually retails for a nauseating $385. Once you select your size, it allows you to select a second size for free in case it doesn't fit. One fun feature is the ability for renters to post a photo of them in their dress they rented. So if you click on the above dress, you can see a reviews and photos that renters post of themselves wearing the dress. It is nice to see someone other than a stick thin model in the dress you are considering. Next, you can choose from an assortment of hand picked accessories to complete your look. If you don't want to spend the extra bucks on renting an accessory, I would recommend taking note of them and going to the fashion jewelry counter of a department store/costume jewelry store and duplicating the look.
If you are worried about your dresses not fitting, you may also rent an second style for only $25. What girl doesn't love options?! After you receive your dress and wear it, you can return it in the prepaid, pre-addressed envelope that it came with and slip it into any old USPS blue mailbox. It is exactly like a tuxedo rental. You don't even dry clean it. You can practically take it off, place it in an envelope, and mail it.
We all have so many holiday parties and New Year's Eve coming up. This is the perfect time to try it out! Have you Rented the Runway yet?
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