[neurodoc]

Renttherunway.com

It's just a clothing rental site for women, to rent designer party clothes. That's all. So why is it revolutionary?

So this website has allowed - nay encouraged- women to upload photos of themselves wearing the clothes (mostly dresses) that they rent. And because the site needs to know your height, bust size and clothing size to fill your order, it can allow you to search for photos of women that are your size and shape. So you can compare the stock model-wearing sales photo from the designer with the one of an actual human wearing the same thing. WOW. It is a revelation, and a godsend. I learned more in one hour about how clothes fit (and don't) than I have in 20 years of trying on outfits at the store. The one thing missing from the service (that would make it even more helpful), is to tell you the actual size of the dress that was worn in the photo, rather than just the one the woman puts in as her usual clothing size.

I am so not being paid to post this. But I encourage anyone who's had a tough time finding clothes that fit from online retailers to take a look at this site. And then start badgering your favorite online retailer(s) to add this feature to their own sites, as I am planning to do starting today. If we care enough, we can actually change the online clothes shopping experience from the current crapshoot to a nearly-sure-thing when it comes to fit and appearance.

Happy shopping.

[saef]

I just read an article about this in the NY Times this morning, I think in the business section from Saturday. I will have to go look at that site. Thanks for the personal endorsement. That plus my having read about it is enough to send me over to look at it.

[WardHog]

Do you have to create an account to look at the photos?

[JayEll]

Come on, those fashion designers don't make 18 petite!

[Mudpie]

I will definitely look at this. I buy everything online and it is a bit of a crap shoot. Even if you find something that's perfect one order they change it by the time you order the next one.

jayell I actually have seen "model" clothes and they look nothing like what any regular type woman would wear. I think their ideal body is that of a lanky but painfully thin 17-year old male.

I really liked the show that one Japanese designer did - he sent the clothes out on a kind of line with pulleys and the "models" were wire coat rack type things. About as realistic as some of the models - 6' tall and 120 lbs - really?

Dagmar

[krampus]

My friend was showing me this a couple weeks ago! She rented a nice one for a charity gala in NYC. I'd love to try...my bf recently got promoted to executive level so there will probably be some fancy events coming up that I can try this out on!

[neurodoc]

Saef, I actually learned about the site from the NYT article, so not a coincidence.

Wardhog, I think so, because it uses your personal data (height, weight dress size) to match you to photos of women most like you.