Most of us love dressing up once in awhile, but there are several constraints that have developed in our lives that has made this a little bit more of a challenge - social media. Social media has made it almost impossible to wear the same outfit twice. Now that isn’t to say that you can’t put your styling skills to use but if you’re like me who likes to buy things that are bright and colourful maybe you’ll get two wears out of that fabulous dress you bought. Cost is another factor that has been a stumbling block from time immemorial, can I just say that the prices for clothing have gone up across the board. Zara, H&M, Aritzia, Club Monaco they have lovely things but it's getting to the point that buying certain items for one wear isn’t cost effective. Also the time old situation of someone showing up to the same event wearing the same dress (and looking better than you *shock and horror*)

In comes dress rentals. I have heard about renting clothes before but didn’t really know if it was something that I could access. A lot of dress rental websites are based in the US and as a Canadian that is really annoying for obvious reasons - shipping and duties. Enter Fitzroy Boutique, I have been a loyal follower of their store for the last couple of years. They’ve always sold some amazing clothes and accessories so when they decided to start dress rentals I was excited. I recently had need for an outfit as I have a wedding I’m attending last November. It was a great experience!

How does it work? Well you have two options you can check out their website and order your outfit on their or go in store. I use the website to check out if there were any outfits that I was intrigued to try on. I headed to their boutique 1227 Dundas Street West, 2nd Floor, no appointment is necessary. They carry numerous outfits in XS - L and some plus sizes, you can go through the racks organized by size and grab whatever you like and head to the change rooms. Can I say that I loved their change rooms! They are bright and well lit thanks to some large windows and the lighting fixtures in the space. They have heels that you can use while trying on clothes and you can buy some accessories as well. You get to play dress up, if you find a outfit you’d like to rent the rental price is on the tag attached to the outfit. You can rent items for 4 or 8 days. The time for rental includes the day you pick up and return the dress. In this case I needed the jumpsuit for Saturday November 18th, so I picked up the dress on Friday and returned it on Monday. I believe there is a $20/day late fee for every day the dress is late. As well there is a $5 insurance fee that you can choose to pay for. This covers any reasonable damage that may occur on the outfit. I got the insurance because I would rather not worry about it. They dry-clean all of the outfits before and after use. If you have any questions please call the boutique Julie was a great help to me while there trying on clothes and getting me through the process.

My verdict, I have another wedding to attend this July and I’ll definitely be heading back to the boutique to find an outfit. While you could be spending up to $100 on a rental in my mind it's still a great deal, you get a new outfit and you don't have to worry about it gathering dust in your closet when you realize you can’t wear it again for whatever reason. Another plus is you can spend your time on buying some cute accessories (shoes, bag, jewellery, etc.)

Update: They now have bag rentals, so you can find a matching clutch as well!

*Reposted from November last fall