Score a Dream Dress at Neiman's Without Spending a Fortune

Image via Rent the Runway

If you have très expensive taste and très little to blow on a fancy new outfit, Neiman Marcus has a solution that won't set you back thousands of dollars: Rent the Runway.

For the uninitiated, RTR is a seven-year-old service that lets you borrow designer dresses for a fraction of their retail price. When it launched, the RTR experience was entirely online. That can be scary when you can't tailor a garment, but RTR eased renters' nerves with extensive sizing reviews and a free backup size with every rental. 

Eventually, the brand expanded its footprint with brick-and-mortar showrooms in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, and DC, where renters could try on dresses before deciding. Last November, the company rolled out its latest iteration of the RTR IRL experience: showrooms in Neiman Marcus. The 5th floor boutique at Neiman's in Union Square is the brand's first showroom in the venerable department store chain, but more are on the way.

The shop-in-shop is a lifesaver for procrastinators. Since the original RTR concept relied on shipping and receiving garments via UPS, you couldn't make a game day call that you hated everything in your closet and you wanted to borrow something. At the RTR boutique in Neiman Marcus, customers can try on pieces during styling appointments and take a dress home the same day.

Even if you can't make it to the store, you can use the RTR app to choose from a selection of dresses that RTR can deliver to your door in as little as one hour. For those who like to plan, you can also schedule an appointment long before a party or gala, and reserve your favorite for a future date. When your rental period is up, just pop the dress back in the mailer garment bag and send it back with the prepaid label. They take care of dry-cleaning.

Most fancy party rental looks are over $100, so if you have a full month on your social calendar, you may want to opt for RTR Unlimited, which is $139 per month for three pieces at a time.

If renting a dress isn't your idea of fun, by all means keep on shopping. But if your budget doesn't align with your taste in gowns, this is a wallet-friendly solution.

The RTR showroom keeps Neiman's store hours: 10am–7pm Monday–Wednesday and Friday–Saturday, 10am–8pm Thursday, and 12pm–6pm Sunday.