My Honest Rent The Runway Review

Considering Rent The Runway for an upcoming event? Read my Rent The Runway review before you decide to rent your next formal gown.

Over the weekend, Dane and I attended the Army Engineer Ball here in Washington, DC. Military balls are fun and exciting (most of the time), but can also put a hurting on your bank account pretty quickly. Because no dresses in my closet fit me right now, and we found out about the event kind of last minute, I decided to rent a dress instead of buy one. 

My previous Rent The Runway experience wasn’t great, but I was in a pinch and a good friend told me the company has come a long way — so I went for it. If you have a big event coming up or are interested in the company, today I’m sharing my honest Rent The Runway review.

My Honest Rent The Runway Review

My previous RTR experience included getting a dress that smelled like body odor in the mail, so I definitely had a bit of trepidation choosing to rent another gown. I also needed the dress to be red, and really didn’t want to spend a ton. A tall order in the middle of summer!

I rented the V-Neck High Low Gown by Hutch. The rental was $55 for 4 days, plus I was able to choose a back-up size for free. I was a little nervous about sizing, so I requested the dresses arrive 2 days prior to the event, knowing that in a worst-case-scenario event, I could rush ship another size or style. That was a tip I got from one of the reviews I read.

My dresses arrived earlier than anticipated (win) and were dropped off on my porch in a nice bag. Both dresses came on hangers and wrapped in dry cleaning bags. Bonus – neither of them smelled.

I’m not super confident in my body right now, and I had tried on a ton of dresses from stores that looked…terrible…so I didn’t try the RTR dresses on right away and waited until after my work day. I took a deep breath and tried on the first dress. It fit like an absolute glove! I texted a photo to a friend for confirmation that it looked okay.

Review of Rent The Runway

I loved this dress the moment I put it on! I slipped on a pair of shoes I already had in my closet that I planned to wear just to make sure they worked with the high-low cut — and they did! 

The night of the ball it poured down rain here in Washington, DC (because why not?!), but it was still such a fun night and I’m so glad I tested out Rent The Runway again. I felt beautiful and confident in the dress and it’s a service that I would highly recommend. 

The next morning, I packed up the dress I wore (and the back-up dress they sent), affixed the pre-paid return label to the front of the bag, and dropped it off at UPS. It was so simple and easy, and required very little effort on my part.

Would I use RTR again for an event? Absolutely. I think it’s an affordable option when you need a fancy dress!