I had never even heard about the concept of renting actual designer outfits until an unfortunate event lead me to it. It was my friend’s wedding and like an excited soul, I had my looks and outfits planned weeks in advance. My mom had been getting them handmade in my hometown, however, she was yet to deliver the wedding day outfit to me in Delhi. That’s when there was a sudden agitation in parts of the capital and the connecting roads to the city were blocked. You have no idea how annoyed I was to know that my outfit would not reach me… I had invested months preparing for this wedding! I was pretty much clueless about what I would do now. Of course, I did not want to wear any of the old stuff and splurging thousands for an ensemble that I would probably wear only once in my life was not a good option. C’mon, admit it girls, we all think that way!
I had read about Rent The Runway in USA, so I was sure there must be something similar out here as well. And that’s how I chanced upon Flyrobe.
Flyrobe came as a pleasant surprise with a huge variety of outfits, ranging from luxury labels to regular ones and most of them were priced reasonably. In fact, it’s perfect for the bride’s sister or her friends! I finally settled on a beautiful peach lehenga with zari embroidery by House of Ombre. While I was apprehensive about the quality, fitting and timely delivery, I anyhow went ahead and placed the order. I soon received a confirmation call and an appointment for the fittings was fixed. Pretty smooth! They came over, took my measurements and delivered the product on the requested day. I am a stickler for hygiene, but the outfit came dry cleaned, neatly packed and was just like I had imagined.
You can rent this Peach lehenga by House of Ombre here. Once you have the lehenga, how about accessorizing it with a Maang pasa by Jaipur Mart (Rs 289) and Pearl studded bangles by YouBella (Rs 339) just like I have done.
I was showered with compliments and to this day the lehenga remains one of the prettiest outfits I’ve worn. And it was a steal for Rs 5,000 approximately. After my event was over, the Flyrobe team did a quick quality check and returned the advance deposit. The whole experience was extremely hassle free.
And that wasn’t the last time I rented an outfit. On another such occasion, when I received a last minute invite for a friend’s sangeet, I chose to rent rather than panic. This time it was a beautiful cream gota patti anarkali with a red dupatta and the set costed me less than 4k.
If you want to rent a similar Anarkali, you can check out this Ivory Embroidered one by Anisha Shetty here. Add traditional pearl jhumkas by Swasti Jewels (Rs 1,350) and your sangeet look is ready!
Ladies, I know we have it harder. From expensive make-up buys to jewellery, it is easy for money to slip through our fingers during special occasions. But no one’s stopping you from being a little practical and rent rather than buying. To our joy, there are many other renting options such as Stage 3, Swishlist among others which has made wearing gorgeous clothes easy and affordable. Now donning designer outfits will no longer be on your wishlist but actually in your wardrobe. And believe me, the process is equally hassle-free. Renting really does save you big bucks plus, repeating is not really cool, is it? So rent it, rock it, return it!
To make things easier for you, here are 5 outfits we recommend for this shaadi season:
1. Baby Blue Lehenga by Esha Koul, available on Stage 3 for Rs 2,500.
2. Dusty Rose Cape and Lehenga by Astha Narang, available on Stage 3 for Rs 3,200.
3. Coral Anarkali with Gold Dupatta by Abhinav Mishra, available on Swishlist for Rs 11,100.
4. Yellow Saree by Papa Don’t Preach, available on Stage 3 for Rs 3,999.
5. Raw Silk Wine Gown by Niyoosh, available on Flyrobe for Rs 6,999.
