Model for a day

Earlier in the year, a friend of mine sent me a link for this start up company, Rent Frock Repeat.  I was intrigued by the premise - they purchase designer dresses in various sizes, you rent a dress from them for a fraction of the actual dress' cost and then you return it to them.  Thus avoiding that problem we all face of dresses sitting in the closet collecting dust.

I registered and looked at the selections, albeit halfheartedly because at the time I didn't have any place to wear those dresses.


Until, we received an invitation to a friend's wedding for this past October.

I hummed and hawed and would stalk eye this little black David Meister number shown here:

Now, even though I registered on the site, I didn't fully complete my measurements and so on.  Before I felt comfortable ordering the dress, I had to enter my measurements - bust, waist, hips, weight, height, shoulder to knee and shoulder to ankle dimensions.  This is because these figures are included for each dress to make things easier when you're trying to gauge a particular dress.  And with my luck, I needed all the help I could get!  (This from the person who bought the first wedding dress she tried on!)

I ordered it in a size 4, which was what my measurements said I was, and I ordered a backup size of the same dress in a size 6.

Now, I waited.  And in the meantime, I went on vacation and gained 8 lbs.

A couple days before the dresses were scheduled to arrive, I received a phone call from Lisa, one of the founders, to say that my backup size could not be sent.  However, she was going to send me a size 6 of a Christian Siriano dress and a size 6 of a brand new dress by Adam Lippes for me to use if needed.  How's that for service?

When the three dresses arrived, I of course had to try them on!  I didn't much care for the Adam Lippes dress, I liked the Christian Siriano dress, but I really liked the David Meister dress.  More so than the others, it felt like the dress was tailor made for me.  Even though it wore a bit bigger than my measurements and we had to pin it on the side, it still felt amazing.  This turned out to be a blessing in disguise as the dinner at the wedding consisted of about 6 courses!

I guess when you've gotten used to buying dresses at the mall and such, when you put on a dress of this caliber you really notice the difference.  I received compliments and even caught some women eying me up an down.  One was so bold as to stand in front of me and look me up and down and sideways so she could see the detail on the front of the dress... as if!

I had planned to wear it with my red shoes, but my feet couldn't bear it, so I had to switch to black open toed shoes.  I did have my red seatbelt purse, which I love and a red necklace so I didn't look like I was attending a funeral.

I would definitely use Rent Frock Repeat again, in fact I know the dress I'm going to rent for a wedding we are attending in June!  Another David Meister, but in blue this time.  I've never worn a blue dress and at least if it doesn't suit me, I return it!