How I’ve (successfully) used Rent the Runway

I just got back from the second wedding where I used Rent the Runway to get a dress, and I basically never want to buy a wedding guest dress in my life. Why would I store something in my closet when I can get something different every time that doesn’t contribute to clothing waste??

However, I have seen some horror stories about Rent the Runway (they average one angry instagram comment a post, I would say). So here’s how my experience has been (so far) and what I suggest to maximize your experience.

Read allllll the reviews. I usually have about 20 tabs open on the RTR website. First, I sort for only rentals that are under $50 (because grad school!).

I open every dress I could potentially want in a new tab, and then go through and eliminate the ones that won’t work for me. I do this by sorting reviews based on people who are a similar size to me (which you can do!), mostly sorting by height (at 5′11″, the first detail I need is “will this be a shirt on me?”). They also send you a free backup size on your first rental, which is so great.

The second thing I look for is dresses where people are just gushing. Both of the dresses I’ve rented so far had reviews that claimed the dress looked far better than the stock images. I looked through user-uploaded photos for dresses that flattered many women with different body types. (Here’s the orange one, and the purple one).

The second suggestion I have is to always have a backup dress. Just something in your closet that can be ready to go for most seasons. RTR is really cool, but it does rely on the dress-renter before you sending the dress back on time, and if that doesn’t happen (seems rare) you might be sent a different dress. So, just have something on hand in case.