Everyone wants to look good but at a reasonable cost. Let’s face it, party dresses cost a fortune. Well.. this excellent article in Melbourne’s The Herald Sun shows how you can be the best dressed belle at the ball but at a budget price.
The Herald Sun Digital Edition: How to cut party season costs
The party season is well and truly alive as calendars fill up with events such as the spring races and end-of-year celebrations.
Fast fashion means looking good while keeping social media accounts fresh with fancy new outfits , and can be an expensive exercise.
This has forced partygoers to hunt for ways to cut costs.
Amelia Johnson, 38, runs a event-styling business that involves wearing the latest on trend designs, so she’s turned to hiring garments instead of buying them.
“I started hiring dresses specifically for going to the races or going to work events,” she said.
“I’m now signed up to a premium subscription service so I have unlimited selections that arrive to me three at a time. It suits me perfectly .”
Ms Johnson said she hired clothes for “cost and time efficiency , and sustainability , because there’s wastage around events” .
She signed up to online dress hire service GlamCorner’s premium deal , where users pay $149 per month for unlimited hire. Customers can order three pieces at a time before returning them for another batch of three items, and don’t pay for dry-cleaning .
Ms Johnson’s co-worker Emily Brady, 23, said being in a job where she constantly had to wear new and on-trend designs was expensive , so hiring clothes ed damage to her wallet. “I could easily spend anywhere from $800 to $1500 on an outfit for an event, so I would have been buying one dress and wearing it over and over again,” she said.
GlamCorner marketing manager Kelly Centella said the website had more than 25,000 items to rent, from $49 per garment. “With social media people don’t like to wear things more than once at social events,” she said. “We send out up to 60 tonnes of clothing a month that’s not going into landfill.”
Other popular clothing hire companies include The Volte and Style Theory.
Consumer finance specialist Lisa Montgomery said “if you don’t do black tie and don’t go to the races all the time, hiring can save you money” . “If you need to be seen in new outfit all the time hiring is a much more affordable option,” she said. “Or you could even buy a dress and hire accessories like hats or fascinators that you don’t wear all the time.”
