House Beautiful

Rent the Runway: Love. Wear. Return.

To all the ladies in the place with style and grace, allow me to ask you a couple simple questions: How many times have you hurriedly bought a dress for a wedding/birthday party/night out, only to feel guilty afterwards for never wearing said dress again?  Secondly, when’s the last time you looked at your checking account and noticed an extra $1,000 to be used to purchase a hot, fabulous dress to wear to a party?  Riiight, that’s what I thought.

Well step right up my little fashionista vixens, cause yours truly wants to dish about the most awe-inspiring new website to revolutionize the world of fashion and spin it on its head for those of us trying to save a buck.

It’s RenttheRunway.com, and it might just be the most genius thing I’ve ever discovered (excluding peanut butter M&Ms, of course).  Through their exclusive relationships with top designers, this super easy-to-use website allows women to actually rent the hottest, most current drool-worthy dresses, Netflix-style, for a tiny, and I mean tiny, fraction of the price.

It’s easy:

Step 1: Peruse and choose a dress from designers like Diane von Furstenberg, Alice & Olivia and Herve Leger.  A few of my favorites:

Halston Heritage “Sizzling Shoulder Dress” – Rental: $50, Retail: $295

Robert Rodriguez Black Label “Ruffled Coral Dress” – Rental: $75, Retail: $525

Nicole Miller “The Make Him Regret It Dress” – Rental: $75, Retail: $485

Halston Heritage “Pretty Poncho Dress” – Rental: $50, Retail: $325

Accessories are also available on the site so bangle it up!

Ted Rossi “Paparazzi Flash Cuff” – Rental: $30, Retail: $235

Actually adorned with Swarovski crystals for the inner Zsa Zsa in us all.

Isharya “Druzy Snake Pendant” – Rental: $25, Retail: $125

Susan Hanover “Bold Statement Cuff” – Rental: $30, Retail: “220”

Step 2: Choose the size of the dress you want (they even send your dress in two sizes to ensure a second fit – for free) and the date you’d like it shipped right to your door step.

Step 3:  Once you’re done, simply pop the dress in any mailbox in the pre-paid packaging, and they’ll take care of the dry cleaning!

The 4-or 8-day rentals start at $50 and $10 for accessories.  You can choose a second style as a backup for just $25!  All dresses come with a custom garment bag and “fit kit,” which includes double-sided tape, bra strap adjusters and deodorant stain removers.  And oh yeah, they even have on-call stylists to help with any questions on fitting, from how a material feels on you to how a particular dress hangs on different body types.  Can you handle it?

For those traveling, you can ship directly to your hotel and your dress will be perfectly dry cleaned, then just pop in the mail before you leave.  No need to even pack.

RenttheRunway.com is sure to make you feel like the belle of the ball.  Or as The New York Times phrases it, like “Cinderella on a budget.”

Now who doesn’t feel like slippin’ into some glass slippers every now and again???

Rock on my fellow budget-conscious-yet-still-sassy-as-ever friends,

xoxo,

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