I mentioned a little while ago that I rented
a dress from
Rent the Runway for a black tie optional event that I have tomorrow, so I wanted to do a quick review of the dress I received and the overall experience.
First of all, I will say that the service is very convenient and easy to use. I was able to add an additional size of this dress to my order at no additional cost. I was 95% sure I wouldn't need the extra size (and I was right) but it's still a nice option if you are between sizes. The delivery was actually 1 day earlier than originally anticipated so that was nice also. The dresses arrived well-packaged on individual hangers and inside individual plastic garment bags. There was also a tag hanging on the garment bag that tells you your return date and instructions on how to return and what to do if the dress doesn't fit. The company also makes returns extremely easy - there is a prepaid UPS envelope included in the box. All you have to do is put the dresses inside (sans hangers and garment bags - you get to keep those) and drop it off at a UPS drop box.
I will tell you right now: I am not going to wear this dress to my event. I will do a review of the dress I'm wearing soon because I loveeeee it.
My issue was not with the RTR service but with the quality of the dress itself. This is a Moschino Cheap & Chic dress (don't be confused by the "cheap" in the brand's title - this dress retails for like $450), and I expected a high-quality piece. If you compare the stock image below to the pictures of the actual dress, you might see where I felt betrayed. What appeared to be a shiny/satiny dress is actually a wrinkly cotton mess in person. I would never pay full price for the dress let alone the $70 it cost me to rent it (I used a coupon code to get $25 off - they are readily available). This dress actually looks and feels very similar to a $40 H&M cotton work dress that I never wear because it wrinkles after a 20 min car ride to work. I do not feel this dress is black tie optional appropriate AT ALL. Especially with the inevitable wrinkles.
The dress did fit pretty well. I am obviously short (5'3") so I knew it would be a bit long in length, but I think this length hitting right below my knee is actually elegant. The straps were slightly long but some fashion tape could fix that. The bodice of the dress fit really well, even though this is marked as a US-4. I'm currently probably the slimmest I've been since college, so I was worried the dress would be too big but it fit great. However, (and this is the thing that pissed me off the most about this dress) -- it literally looked like it had been worn 100 times before me. It looked almost ragged up close. Anyway - if you have a more casual event to attend and are my size, this dress will fit you! Yay.
So, moral of the story? If I had looked at all of the customer photos (I did, but I was blinded by the stock image) I would have noticed the dress was wrinkly on everyone. If I had looked at the fabric content, I would have noticed it's 97% cotton (not so fancy). That might have saved me some headache.
Would I use the service again? Yes, but I would be more careful about the fabric content especially and I would thoroughly read the customer reviews before ordering.
If you've used RTR before I'd love to hear your experiences - both good and bad!
