Hey babes - secrets out and I can’t wait to fill you in. Keep reading for the complete 411 on How To: Dress Hot For Less. One word, Rentals.
We’ve all seen the memes, “My toxic trait is buying a new outfit for every event.” I honestly couldn’t relate more, but somethings gotta give. I realistically can not continue to buy an outfit for every dinner, brunch date, etc., no matter how bad I really want to (like this isn’t just me right?). I had heard of RTR (Rent The Runway) in the past, but never did much digging to figure out what it really entailed. It was when I began packing for a vacation that I decided to open the door to the rental world, and haven't closed it since - here’s the rental 411.
RTR - I had the cheapest membership, this allowed me to have 4 items of whatever i wanted, but only 1 time a month for $89.00/mo. Likes of RTR: If you liked a specific item you could keep that item and send the rest back for something else, but of course you just then had to only rent 1 less item. I loved that the delivery was in a nice clean bag, clothes all freshly dry cleaned, smelled good, always looked to be in mint condition. You also have the choice to buy an item as well at a discounted price. Dislikes of RTR: You can only do your picks 1 time a month, unless you want to pay $135.00 or more. I did feel like after a couple months their selection of clothing got pretty boring, they are not adding as many new items as often as other rental companies. RTR also has a bunch of ball gown options and very nice classy cocktail wear, which would be perfect for special occasions.
FP - My personal favorite, Fashion Pass. FP has not been around as long as RTR, but has a bunch of fun trendy items to choose from which in turn, has made using them a lot of fun. I found them through an IG ad (of course) and started using them in the winter to swap out different winter coats. Likes of FP: They add new options literally daily, they have some of the most incredible brands, most of their rentals is stuff from Revolve, more often than not the stuff I rent still has tags on it, you can send back and rent as many times as you want per month, oh and you can buy each item at a discounted price (typically 30-50% off). Also, you can add on an extra item for $11.99. So let’s say you have your items at home, you just found out you have this last minute event next week and you want another item, you can add any item on the site and have it shipped to you. Shipping with them usually takes about 4 days. Dislikes of FP: For $69.00/mo., you only get 2 clothing items and 1 accessory item (has to be an accessory item too, can’t trade it for another item. Although under the accessory category, I have found some cute hidden tops). You can not keep an item you really like and send the others back, if you do this they assume you are buying it and will charge the card on file. They are very popular right now, so a LOT of their sizes are sold out, which gets kind of frustrating when you are looking for new items to rent.
Nuuly- Where are my Anthropology lovers at? This one’s for you, alll the boho vibes. I recently tried this one to just test it out and see what it was about, they have a bunch of super cute options for maternity. I would 10/10 recommend this rental company to all my preggo gal’s. I know someone that had two baby showers and a couple work events, she had no idea how she was supposed to get dressed up for 5 different occasions being 7 months pregnant, so she got a membership, started renting some options and has been renting from them the rest of her pregnancy.
To sum up all of this rental talk, do it. It is the best money saver when it comes to clothes and has saved me on so many different occasions. I also should tell you that there have been a couple times that I was already eyeing an item (a pair of free people jeans to be exact), found them available to rent, tried them on and wore them a little bit, then decided if i wanted to buy them or not. At that point, I even had the opportunity to buy it at a discounted price, win win.
P.S. Each site is linked in their name, happy renting!
Xo,
Beth