Little Black Dress

Dress - Kate Spade / Heels (similar here, here, and here) - Ann Taylor / Bag - Tory Burch / Earrings (similar) - LOFT / Lip - Maybelline

Chances are, if you're in your 20s or early 30s, you're heading to a couple weddings this summer. Jeff and I are finally out of the thick of weddings for our friends, but we still have a couple of friends tying the knot this year. While it's always fun to buy a new dress, it can get super expensive, especially if you're invited to a lot of weddings or need outfits for rehearsal dinners and showers and bachelorette parties too! 

For the past couple of years, I've been using Rent the Runway for weddings and big work parties and I freaking love it. This isn't sponsored at all by the way. It's great because you don't end up buying dress after dress, but still have something new to wear. Plus the rental fees are so much less than the cost of purchasing a new dress, but allow me to wear brands that I normally wouldn't be able to afford. 

Now let me just tell you - renting for the first time is nerve racking!! I mean, the dress gets delivered a day or two before your event and you have no idea how it's going to fit! I have a couple pieces of advice to help.

Advice for Using Rent the Runway

The first is to make sure you always have a back up dress in your closet. When I first started renting I probably only actually wore a third of the dresses I rented because of bad fits. They will give you store credit if you return the dress fast enough so you can always send it back, and if you have enough time they'll send you a replacement dress. But really for ease of mind, I always make sure I have something in my closet I want to wear, just in case. 

The second tip is to know your body. If you think something won't work on you, it likely won't. Those dresses I got that didn't fit? Yeah, I basically always had a clue they wouldn't work ahead of time. Just because there are lots of positive reviews, if something is built for a small chest it just won't work if you have a large one. 

And then finally, I say look at the reviews with photos, but do a sort for reviews that have a similar body type or size. That way, you can see what the dress looks like on bodies that are similar to yours! I've become a little crazy about looking at the photos, and actually haven't had a problem with a dress not fitting in the past year. 

The Little Black Dress

Little black dresses can be pretty basic, but are the perfect canvas for dressing up with different accessories. I freaking love this one - the sleeves are so fun, and I love the pearl button on the back! Plus, the a-line shape is super comfortable but still flattering, and great for dancing. And really, the biggest selling point was the ability to wear a regular bra! You guys know I'll wear a strapless bra when necessary, but if I can find a special occasion dress that doesn't necessitate one I'm a very happy camper.

Dress - Kate Spade / Heels (similar here, here, and here) - Ann Taylor / Bag - Tory Burch / Earrings (similar) - LOFT / Lip - Maybelline

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A Miss

Sweater - Trina Turk / Skirt - J. Crew (currently on sale!) / Booties - TOMS / Bracelet - BaubleBar

Whoops. I felt like a million bucks in this outfit, and now looking back at it I am so not into it. This sweater was a free rental from Rent the Runway for my birthday, and I fell in love with the hot pink, the sparkles, and the fun pattern. While I loved it, it is just not working with this skirt. It's a little too oversized to be paired with a swingy skirt. That being said, I paired the same sweater with skinny jeans and fancier booties for a birthday dinner that night at Appellation which I think was a much more successful pairing. Sometimes you swing, and sometimes you miss.

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Previously on KDTI - Black Booties:

 

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Ruffled Rental

Shirt - Trina Turk (via Rent the Runway) / Denim - Gap / Flats - BP / Belt (similar) - Old Navy / Bag (similar) - Coach Factory / Bracelet - unknown (gift from the hubs!) 

I was randomly browsing through Rent the Runway last week, trying to decide if I wanted to rent something for Valentine's Day, when I realized two things. One, I had a bunch of credits, and two, they were having a 3 for 1 deal for Valentine's weekend. So why not rent a couple of things? I ended up snagging a pretty blouse for our Valentine's Day date, a warm sweater for a Saturday of volunteering and hanging out with the husband, and this pretty ruffled shirt to wear to work on Friday. I was going to take pictures of all of the things I got, but you know, weather got in the way. This shirt was a bit too bit, but nothing tucking it in and adding a belt couldn't solve.

Getting rentals for everyday activities was surprisingly fun - it was nice to have something different to wear without filling every spare inch of my closet, and I had way less laundry to do. It was also nice to wear things that are normally out of my price point - this shirt is regularly $268, which is almost my whole monthly budget! This weekend actually has me seriously considering Rent the Runway's Unlimited subscription, where you can always have three items out for rental and switch them out for different items whenever you want. The only thing is the price - it's $139 a month, which seems a bit steep. I suppose I would also be buying fewer things, but it still feels like a lot. Have you tried rental services like Unlimited? Do you think they're worth it?

P.S. This post isn't sponsored - I just really like Rent the Runway!

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Linking up with Friday Fab Favorites, What I Wore to Work, Style Me Wednesday.

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Rent the Runway Review

Dress - Rent the Runway / Bag - Kate Spade / Necklace - JCrew Factory / Booties - Adrienne Vittadini

This weekend I used Rent the Runway for the first time to rent a dress for my high school reunion! I was weirdly nervous about it - relying on a dress you've never seen or tried on before for a special event is a little stressful! So I wanted to share my experience in case you're thinking of using the service.

After looking through literally every dress on the site, reading reviews, and creeping on all of the pictures posted by other renters, I settled on this pretty pink number. Everyone had posted that it was really flattering so I thought it was a no brainer. I placed the order for four days, from Thursday to Sunday, and thought I was good to go. Well, Thursday night when I got home from work to find the dress on my doorstep, I was really excited and immediately tried it on. Well surprise surprise, but it was NOT so flattering on me - instead it made me look super lumpy and bumpy. Not good. I freaked out and tried on every dress in my closet to see if I could find something else that would work. Nope. So I went to the Rent the Runway website, where I saw that I could request a new dress for an extra $12 bucks. Done. I found two more that I thought would work, emailed Rent the Runway with my choices & sizes, and called it a night.

On Friday I got a note confirming my order and that the new dresses would be on my doorstep by noon on Saturday. Since they hadn't arrived yet I think I packed two pairs of shoes, tights, a belt, every fancy necklace I own, and three bags, as well as two of the most promising dresses from my closet. The dresses showed up right before noon as we were about to leave, so I threw them in the car and we headed up to my parents house.

I tried on all the dresses, including the two that were my own, for my mom and sister (and Jeff, but he took the dude position of saying I looked great in all of them). The first dress I picked was a little black dress with some faux cutouts, and while it was cute I felt like it wasn't quite right. The second dress, however, was gorgeous (the one pictured above) - I loved the pattern and shine, and the fit was right. Of course, I couldn't raise my arms above my head and it was a leeeeettle on the short side, but nothing a pair of tights couldn't fix. I steamed out a wrinkle, added some accessories and was good to go.

Returning the dresses was easy too, I just popped them back in their original bags, added the pre-paid shipping label, and dropped them in a UPS box on my way to work. Bing bang boom.

Considering using Rent the Runway? If it's for a Saturday event, I definitely recommend choosing a Thursday-Sunday rental so that there's enough time for you to get another dress in time for your event. The Sunday end date is also nice because they actually say you don't have to make the return until Monday if you can't find an open UPS store. You can also rent a backup dress if you want to be safe for an extra $40, or if there's a store in your town, go in to the brick and mortar store to try on things ahead of time.

This post is not sponsored by Rent the Runway, I just wanted to share my experience. Have you used Rent the Runway before?

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Linking up with Style Me Wednesday, Style Sessions.

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