Rent the Runway

Rent the Runway (RTR) is a dress rental company that allows women to rent high end, runway fashions at a fraction of the cost.  This is perfect for the Fashionista who wants to look and feel glamorous in a couture dress or gown just for one night, but can't afford the "high end" price tag.  RTR allows you to rent high fashion pieces for 4 to 8 days starting at $50.  RTR is similar to Bag, Borrow, or Steal, the designer handbag rental company that was mentioned in the Sex and the City movie by Jennifer Hudson's character.

This concept is perfect for weddings, black tie affairs, cocktail parties, etc.  I hate going places and seeing someone in the exact same dress I'm wearing.   I also hate when I go somewhere and I see someone in a piece and I know exactly where they bought it from and how much they paid for it because I saw it in the store.  With RTR, you can almost guarantee that you won't see someone in your same dress.

Renting a couture design from RTR can be done just 3 easy steps:

Browse through our array of A-list designers and find a dress you love. Or two!

Schedule a delivery date, and your dress will appear on your doorstep. Next-day and even same-day delivery (if you live in NYC) is available, for last-minute wardrobe crises. And we’ll send you a second, back-up size—just to be safe.

Put your dress in our handy pre-paid packaging and drop in the nearest mailbox (we take care of the dry cleaning!).

Visit Rent The Runway at renttherunway.com and sign up for a personal invite for access to the website.  I signed up and received my invitation within a couple of days.  Once I received the invitation I was able to view all of the runway dresses available for rent.  Here are a few that I liked:

The following dresses are from Roberto Rodriguez Collection.  You can rent any of these for a total of $50 or $75 for a minimum of 4 days. 

 I love the rocker edge of this dress.  Very cute!

 

This one-sleeved dress is cute and adorned with metal studs.  Love it!

 

This reminds me of a Herve Leger dress.  Love the color and contrast criss-cross detail

 

I LOVE this sequined romper.  Yes, those are shorts.  I thought it was a shirt when I first saw it.

I love this Herve Leger dress.  Even though I think celebs have worn these dresses to death, I still wouldn't mind being able to wear one of his bandage style dresses even if just for a night.  You can rent this and other popular Herve Leger designs for a total of $150 for 4 days.

RTR gets new designs in on a weekly basis.  They'll even send you two different sizes at no extra cost just in case the first size doesn't work out.  You can rent up to 4 dresses at a time.  I know a lot of you are thinking "Why would I pay all of this money to rent a dress when I can put that much towards a dress that I can own?"  I thought the same thing, but when I think about it, a lot of times when I wear something to a major event I normally don't wear it again, especially if I took pictures in it.  But even still, I don't know if I am totally sold on the idea of renting a dress because if I really like it, chances are I'm going to want to keep it even if I don't wear it ever again.  At the present time RTR does not give you the option to purchase the dress after you've rented it.

So what do you think? Are you willing to Rent the Runway to look fabulous in a couture dress for one night?