Featured Fit: Rent the Runway!

By Cool J in Minneapolis

Have you heard of Rent the Runway?
Rent the Runway is the premier online destination for access to your dream closet. With a revolving roster of over 160 top designers of the season’s hottest dresses and accessories, Rent the Runway is designer fashion delivered to your doorstep for all of life’s occasions for just a fraction of the price!

Basically, Rent the Runway is like borrowing clothes from your friend’s closet, if your friend had thousands of amazing designer dresses in your size….and if that friend made you pay her to borrow a dress.

Okay, so maybe not quite the same as borrowing from a friend, but this service does allow you to have a new dress for every occasion. Personally, I have a lot of dresses that I have only worn once or twice. I do have some (like I wrote about in this POST) that I wear again and again, but many times, I buy a dress for a wedding, and rarely wear it again.

So why even buy it? Just RENT it! And then you can wear a high-end designer for less than you would have paid for a different dress that you only wear once or twice.

My friend Penny gave me a coupon she had received for $50 off of Rent the Runway, so I decided to give it a try for my friend Vicki’s wedding.

I selected the Christian Siriano “Taking Over Sheath.” Do you remember Christian from Project Runway?

The dress was bright (LOVE!!) and seemed like a pretty flattering fit from the pictures.

*Apparently this dress retails at $1200! I rented it for a fraction of that price.

The Rent the Runway website includes customer reviews with pictures of real people who rented the dresses, and they offer up honest feedback as to how each dress fits. I was able to see the way other (non-models) looked in the dress, and I thought it was a good dress for this winter wedding at a local winery…(yes, a winery in Minneapolis!)

When renting a dress, you can chat with a stylist for tips on how to accessorize. They also rent purses and jewelry to complete your look. The best part? When renting, you can select two sizes, in case one doesn’t fit. And if both do not fit, you can return them and get your money back.

My dress arrived on Friday in a big box.

Inside the box was a dress bag…

And then my two dresses!

It was free to order two sizes, and thank god I did. The size 4 was way, way too small, and the 6 was even questionable. With a pair of SPANX I was able to zip it up, but it was tight. Apparently, in runway sizes, I’m an 8…I guess the J.Crew sizing is just a BIT off. Good information when trying to find the RIGHT FIT for me.

I wore the dress to my friend Vicki’s wedding last night. Though I couldn’t laugh heartily (since it was too tight around the ribcage) I still made it work Project Runway style. Tim Gunn would be pleased!

Will I rent through Rent the Runway again? I’m not sure. Clearly, my biggest problem was not knowing what size to order. I think I’d prefer renting from “For The Night.” (Read Msp/St. Paul magazine’s review of For the Night here.) “For the Night” is a local store with the same premise, but the big difference is that you can try on the dress before you rent. However, it sounds like the For The Night is still building their inventory. One great thing about Rent the Runway is that they have a HUGE inventory, and they carry the dresses is a multitude of sizes.

I do think my sizing problem was my own fault. I could have read the sizing information a little closer, and not made assumptions based on what I thought I should be wearing. I should have known with a fitted sheath dress that I should err on the bigger size. Let’s be honest, those Girl Scout cookies are a bit too tempting this winter!

As for the wedding, it was so lovely. The venue was so unique (Warehouse Winery). The ceremony was held right in the same place as the rest of the reception. The vows and the ceremony and everything was so sweet and very touching.

And I loved the bride’s J.Crew wedding gown!