The Latest Bridal Trend: Renting Your Gown
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iStock/Thinkstock(NEW YORK) — For traditional brides, “carrying something old, something new, something borrowed and something blue” has long been a way of inviting good fortune and prosperity into a marriage. But what if the borrowed something is the big white dress?
A host of new retail outlets are offering all of the glitz and glamour of a fairy tale wedding gown experience, but with a return-by date akin to Cinderella’s famous midnight curfew.
Ladies and gentleman, you may now rent the bridal gown.
“When we recently launched Little White Dress rentals for brides, we received orders for events the next day,” said Kelsey Doorey, whose new e-retail site Vow to Be Chic, launched with rentals for bridesmaids and then quickly expanded its offerings. “It’s clear that women are looking for ways to make the experience more affordable and convenient without sacrificing style or dress quality.”
Popular designers featured on the Vow to be Chic site include Jenny Yoo, Nicole Miller, Jill Jill Stuart, Tadashi Shoji, Watters, Theia, Joanna August, LulaKate, Alvina Valenta, Jim Hjelm and Swoon.
And it’s not alone in its business model.
With an increasing number of women shifting away from preserving gowns for family heirlooms, many of today’s brides are more interested in saving some money on the way from the boutique to the chapel.
Longstanding designer rental website Rent the Runway, which offers 4- and 8-day rentals of upscale gowns by designers ranging from Badgley Mischka to Monique Lhiullier, recently debuted a bridal category after its brick-and-mortar store in the Cosmopolitan Hotel in Las Vegas saw a steady stream of women shopping for their wedding day.
“I think some women value the experience over the ownership of their gown,” said a representative for Rent the Runway. “If they already use Spotify or Uber, services where you’re not necessarily owning something versus experiencing it, they will also feel comfortable with renting a wedding gown.”
Plus, the savings of renting are not insignificant.
A sleek, long-sleeved, cocktail-length wedding dress by Dsquared that would normally retail for approximately $830 can be rented for $125 on Rent the Runway. And at Washington, D.C.-based bridal rental atelier Borrowing Magnolia, a Jenny Packham “Aspen Gown” featuring a draping silhouette, meticulous bead work and an illusion lace back that would typically sell for $5,000 before alterations, can be rented for $1,250.
Those discounts leave lots of funds still in the wedding budget for food, music or other desirable decor elements. And if your groom isn’t planning to keep his morning jacket, proponents say there’s no reason why his betrothed can’t follow suit with her tulle.
“Guys have been renting tuxes forever,” Doorey told ABC News. “It finally dawned on me: Why can’t women enjoy the same concept?”
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