Wish Want Wear - Designer Dress Hire

Hiring a dress. When does one do that? I don't think I've hired a dress before in my life. I considered doing so when attending my school ball but apart from that (and that was *ehem* 16 years ago) I don't think it would cross my mind... That was before I had heard of Wish Want Wear though!

Who are Wish Want Wear? Well, in their own words:

"Wish Want Wear is the UK’s leading designer dress hire website, launched in September 2011 and has grown from strength-to-strength ever since. We have a strong list of internationally renowned designers including Temperley London, Sass & Bide, M Missoni, Just Cavalli and Halston Heritage with accessories from the likes of Mawi and Erickson Beamon. Wish Want Wear is the ultimate choice for online shopping, offering the ability to hire designer dresses without the designer price tag. Stocking dresses suitable for every occasion from lunch with the girls, a night on the town, to balls, Wish Want Wear leaves you with the ultimate, designer wardrobe that won’t break the bank"

I think they sum themselves up well!

I was recently offered the chance to hire one of their lovely dresses amd experience the whole process from start to finish; choosing a dress, waiting for delivery, trying on, using and finally returning the dress.

What did I think?  Well, first of all, the most exciting part; the dress.  Choosing was hard.  There were a heap of gorgeous dresses to choose from.  I had my son's baptism coming up so I thought a dress for that would be perfect.  There were quite a few dresses that really spoke to me.  I was keen to hire an M Missoni or Alice by Temperley dress - my two favorite designers from the group stocked.  I narrowed it down to one from each and in the end, the decision was taken from my hands - the Temperley dress the Temperley dress I was interested in wasn't available on the dates required.  This is a lesson learned - if you plan on hiring a dress, do so at the earliest opportunity to allow more choice/availability.  Still, even though I couldn't have the Temperley dress I liked, the fall back was Missoni.  Not exactly bad!  This was the beauty I picked:

Yes.  I am swinging from a tree in a dress worth over £800 like a loon.  Still looks good though!

After choosing my dress and checking availability, it was simple to order.  You choose a delivery date, preferably a day or two before the event for which you are hiring, so you have time to make sure it reaches you.  WWW kindly offer you the choice to hire the same dress in another size for free so you can be sure of a good fit - very useful!  I decided to stick with just the one dress as I was confident the fit would be good.  Once my order was placed and delivery date selected, it was just a case of waiting!

WWW use a courier service who tell you what time they will be delivering within the hour which is very handy.  You also have the option to text them to say you'd rather have it delivered to a neighbor or the following day, should your circumstances have changed - very handy!

My dress arrived right within the given time slot.  It was packaged very carefully in a large box.  The dress was packed in such a way that it wasn't creased.  Very important!  It was held within the box with a plastic protective cover over it and a clothes hanger from which to hang it.  It was in perfect condition and smelt lovely.  Obviously they look after their dresses!

Did  I like my dress?  Oh yes.  I was very pleased with my choice.  It was funky without being too over the top for a baptism.  It was comfortable.  It fitted well.  The colours were lovely and easy to match to my eye makeup.

When wearing my dress I received heaps of compliments and I was forever telling people that it was a rented dress.  It was lovely to open other people's eyes to the world of dress hire.

It was such a flattering dress and I felt lovely wearing it.  It gave me a boost knowing that it was designer and that I would be the only one wearing one like it!

I paired it with my beautiful Irregular Choice shoes, the ones I wore on my wedding day.  The come out for all special occasions now!

After the day was over, I carefully took "my" dress off, shook it out, hung it back on the hanger, slipped the protective cover over and placed it carefully in the box, sealing it back up.  Inside the box was a returns label to be stuck on the front- easy peasy!  All I had to do after that was cry take it to the Post Office the next day, post it back and obtain proof of postage.

It was all very easy.

So.  What you all want to know is would I hire a dress again?  Yes.  I really think I would.  As I said earlier, it's not something I would consider normally.  However, after experiencing Wish Want Wear, I would!  Why?  Well, for about £50 you can hire something amazing for an event.  Something it is unlikely anyone else there would be wearing.  You get to swan about in the knowledge that you are wearing a special dress, a designer item.. but, you don't have to stump up the full cost for it!  Yes, for your £50+ you don't have something to keep, but that can be a good thing!  I know I have a wardrobe bursting with dresses at the moment.. but when I go to a special event. I like to wear something that's new to me.  This is a way to do that without further filling up your wardrobe.  I have a wedding to go to at the end of the year and I'm really thinking this is the way to go!

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