Style: Report from Rent the Runway's Sample Sale

I stopped by the Rent the Runway Sample Sale today around 1pm, two hours after the sale officially began this week. As a head's up, the line into the sale is particularly long at lunch time (details below). This was my 3rd Rent the Runway Sample Sale, so here are my take-aways:

Lots of wait time: There were also lines to check your coat & bag - mandatory if you have anything bigger than a wristlet. I also had to wait about 10 minutes in line each time I wanted to try something on in the (communal) dressing room. There was a limit of 5 items in the dressing room, so you had to get back in line to try on more. 

Prices not great yet: Overall, prices aren't so great yet but will definitely be slashed before the sale's end on Sunday. The average dress was about $100-130. There were many priced higher: Herve Leger, Temperley, Lela Rose, Badgley Mischka, etc. There were also a select few priced lower: Lilly Pulitzer, Shoshanna, Trina Turk, some Tibi, Issa London, etc.

Limited sizes: Over 3/4 of the sale was devoted to sizes 00-8. If you're bigger than an 8 (10/12/14/16), there's really only 1 aisle for you + some floor length dresses. Otherwise, each size has about 1 aisle to itself. The racks in the very back are the best place to look for hard-to-find sizes. That's where people were discarding their excess items from the dressing room.

The mob scene outside the sample sale. This is the view of line #1 from line #2. It took me about 20-25 minutes to get through line #2 and then about another 10-15 minutes in line #1 to get into the sale. So, about 30-40 minutes total.

This was the only Prabal Gurung I saw.

It's lovely, but was $308.

Love this  Viktor+Rolf dress but it was a little pricey. 

As I remember, over $200.

Kate Spade | Jillian Bow Dress

MSRP: $438, Rental: $75 , Sale: ~$100

They also had several of the yellow & black solid color keyhole collar dresses and I saw 1 black ruffle wrap dress.

Overall, not a lot of Kate Spade and this Jillian dress looked pretty worn.

There were lots and lots of Herve Leger dresses left! It seemed to be the best represented brand with the greatest variety of sizes and styles. Unfortunately, many of them were still around $450. As you may remember I got a Leger at 2 RTR Sample Sales back for $167.

Dresses by Tibi and Milly

The Tibi dress (far left) is the same one 

I purchased 2 Rent the Runway Sample Sales ago 

for $37 (because it was slightly damaged), MSRP $378.

Jewel Dress (no tag/brand)

~ $52

Issa London | Plunging Deep V Drape Dress

MSRP: $720, Rental: $100, Sale: $80

There were several more Issa dresses including the wrap dress Kate Middleton wore for her engagement photo shoot! I managed to snag that one in green 

for $97 (Rental: $125, MSRP: $690).

Overall, I was much more pleased with the selection than I was the last time (10/12). I might even like it as much as the time before (3/12)! There was a specific Tibi dress I wanted that I figured I'd have no chance of finding and lo-and-behold they had it in my size - for $68, Rental: $75, MSRP: $495 (pictured above, middle)! I ended up taking home that & the Issa dress. I might consider going back when they slash the prices on the cheaper items by Shoshanna, Lilly Pulitzer, etc. However, there weren't too many of them to begin with. 

Looking back on my photos from the last sample sale in October 2012, many of the dresses were the same styles as last time & there were a lot of damaged items - so, be careful!

Verdict: Definitely worth the visit - lots of hidden treasures but you definitely have to devote a lot of time & hunt for what you want! 

**For all the visitor info on this sale, click HERE.**