Earlier this week, the Rent the Runway team was in Boston and offered complimentary dress rentals for their event. I was so pleased with the service that I wanted to share my experience for any readers who might be interested. As someone who has trouble with standard sizing, I never really considered RTR because I usually purchase items and tailor them to fit. True to my expectations, there aren’t many options for those who need smaller than a 0 or bigger than a 16. If you can wear between that range of sizes (height is less of an issue, as I saw many options that work on shorter women), then this service would be more useful.
For an overview on Rent the Runway, please visit my old post. I completely forgot about this post, and was even more surprised that my “pick” over two years ago was this same exact Tibi dress.
Some notes from my experience:
– The most helpful feature to me, by far, is the “Our Runway” tab where you can browse dresses based on member photos filtered by height, bust size, age, and more. I completely missed this feature when I was renting (smacks head). After you click into the photos, it shows a detailed review plus the member’s weight. Some of the reviews are especially helpful and share what was done to “adjust” the fit. To make this feature even better, I wish it’d be possible to click into an individual member’s profile and see all the dresses they’ve rented and reviewed. If I ever need a long gown for a black tie event, I will be back to scour the options.
– When I was renting, I did a traditional search for dresses based on style, length, price range (starts at $40), size (0 to 16), and more. Each dress detail page shows reviews and photos of members in the dress, and what size they took. I found two ladies who rented this Tibi dress that were my height and weight – they both said a 0 fit big, but wore it regardless. From their photos, I determined that I could make it work.
– Every rental price includes an optional 2nd size for free, in case you’re not sure which size to get. If none of your rentals fit, you receive a merchandise credit less the cost of shipping.
– Note that the total cost includes the dress rental, plus an additional $5.00 insurance (covers stains, broken zippers, or other incidents that can be cleaned or repaired), standard shipping of $9.95 (includes return envelope), and sales tax. For this specific dress, the dress was $75 for 4 days but the total came out to a little over $90. Depending on the style selected, the total cost could range from $55 to $200+.
– My dress arrived in two days, neatly hung in a garment bag and inside a box. It was clean and I did not see any visible signs of wear. I was worried about return shipping as I never make it to the post office…but turns out, you only use the mailer envelope and drop it off in any USPS mailbox. This is very convenient for anyone who is usually pressed for time.
– In addition to the garment bag, you get to keep a mini package of double-sided fashion tape for temporary “fixes.”
The first time I wore this dress, I threw it on at work and didn’t get to examine the fit. The chest and waist were loose so I hastily added a belt, not realizing it’d look bunchy. The second time around, I nixed the belt and added a cropped blazer for a dinner party. And for the third wear at a holiday party (really making the most out of this 4-day rental), I adjusted the dress in the same manner as for my a+o shift. I folded excess material at the waist over a belt, then secured it to the belt with the complimentary fashion tape. This effectively shortened the length as well, for a fun party look.
For any RTR members interested in this specific dress, the measurements of a 0 are: 16″ across the underarms, 13.5″ across the waist, 14″ torso length, and 31.5″ total length. Material is a medium-weight silk/wool blend.
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Your dress is so beautiful, I wonering you like it very much, you like beautiful dress and me too, So i find a so nice Evening Dresses store,I think you have interesting to it.
This dress is amazing! I love the way you mix it with the pearl necklace 🙂
Love xx
Melanie ~ http://www.mlncrd.com
Beautiful dress!
Rent The Runway's value proposition really appealed to someone like me who often spends too much on a dress that I wear only once. However, as much as I wanted to like RTR, I have unfortunately had 2 negative experiences with them and will be unlikely to make a third rental attempt going forward.
1st negative RTR experience:
– Rented one style in 2 sizes. The size that fit was damaged, and I documented and communicated this with RTR's team.
– Their customer service was great, refunded me the full amount, and even issued a credit of equal amount for a future rental.
2nd negative RTR experience:
– I used my free credit to rent one style in 2 sizes for this past weekend's company holiday party.
– The size that fit definitely had residual body odor smells from a previous wearer!! The smell was especially strong at underarm area. I was certainly not going to wear a dress with someone else's strong body odor to my company party!
– I ended up wearing a dress I already had in my closet.
I'm thankful for their great customer service the 1st time around and for the opportunity to try RTR twice without paying out of pocket. Unfortunately, I will not be making a 3rd RTR attempt because I don't seem to have much luck with them.
I think the RTR concept is good in theory, but difficult to execute well in practice. They call themselves the "netflix of high fashion", but the RTR model needs to deliver much more than that. Unlike a DVD rental, a used dress with signs of use (e.g., damage or body odors) is hardly reusable.
Hi I really like your blog and your advices and tips are very useful for me as I am a short asian girl. I am wondering if you could tell me how you did your hair in this blog. I have a baby face and I want to look mature with some wavy hair styles like you have done in this post. How do you do it?
Is the Tibi dress naturally purple? Or is that just the lighting?
Such an elegant outfit!
kiss
from
Greece
GORGEOUS outfit! So feminine & chic 🙂
xoxo
Cassidy
http://norebeccaforayear.blogspot.com/
Hi Jean, random question: I was looking at one of your older posts ("Borrowed Stella McCartney for Target") and was wondering where you got the aviator sunglasses that you are wearing in the picture with shorts and the yellow jacket. They are so cute!
I've been loving your hairstyle in the past few posts! Did you do something special to get it that way?
One of my fav ensembles by you! I also LOVE your lipstick color! Most girls I know choose a shade too red, but yours is perfect!!!
cute dress
supermodeltall.blogspot.com
I love your coat. Can you provide more detail of this coat?
Love the red lips with your neutral outfit! Gorg 🙂
what a pretty dress on you — and that pop of red is just perfect! xo
http://allthingsprettyandlittle.blogspot.com/
please do a makeup organization post!
I'm totally in love with how they "fancied" up stripes with lace. Pinning this for future DIY inspiration! I'm loving the sleeve too and am guessing this is a semi-stiff type of material?
i think the sleeves are a bit poofy but the silky texture and faux lace pattern make it very classy. i like the bold red accents you threw in too. RTR was a good experience, and i got to try it thanks to your giveaway way back when (2 years ago!?). it was hassle free and allowed me to go all-out on the style and not have to worry about trying to wear it again or getting rid of it.
here is my review of rent the runway and that erin fetherston dress in case anyone's interested: http://www.pandaphilia.com/2011/12/rent-runway-review-erin-fetherston.html
This may be the future of formal wear dresses, as I look in my closet at all the dresses I've had to buy for various functions, and they hang there unworn, due to seasonal/climate changes, weight gain/loss, "perfect" but only for that one occasion, etc. Far more practical perhaps to rent a dress as opposed to shelling out moolah for something you wear once and forget in the back of your closet… — April