We Tried It: A High-Fashion Clothing Rental Company (That Carries the Hottest Red Carpet Gowns)
What It Is: Armarium is a high-end rental service that offers a curated selection of couture and ready-to-wear pieces, along with trendy accessories, from the most sought-after designers in the business. I decided to rent some of the most over-the-top gowns celebrities have worn on the red carpet recently from Marchesa, Carolina Herrera and other big-name designers to see just how easy the process is.
Who Tried It: Colleen Kratofil, Style Writer-Reporter
Level of Difficulty: 2. The toughest part is deciding which items to rent out of their ridiculously gorgeous inventory.
Why I Did It: Throughout awards season I’ve been following every celebrity red carpet look and consequently have been dreaming of getting to wear the opulent, intricate designs myself. So once I discovered that Armarium offers rentals on some of the most jaw-dropping gowns that come down the runways and red carpets, I needed to give it a try myself.
Tracking each and every celebrity red carpet gown is both the best part of my job and the most FOMO-inducing. During awards season, it’s particularly brutal because stars are stepping out once a day (sometimes more!) in the prettiest designs available. And since the celebs don’t even get to keep the mega-pricey designs, I’ve pretty much given up hope of ever wearing pieces from these high-end designers myself. That is, until I discovered Armarium.
Other runway rentals out there occasionally carry high-end brands, but if they do it’s often a selection of standard, commercial pieces. Armarium is all about is offering a selection of the brand’s most standout, striking pieces to rent for a fraction of the retail price.
“It really is the true rent the runway and the true rent the red carpet,” Armarium co-founder Trisha Gregory tells PeopleStyle. “Before launching Armarium I constantly saw these amazing editorial pieces that were usually loaned to celebrities or fashion editors or bloggers but weren’t often produced because they weren’t commercially viable. So we thought, ‘Hey what about opening up this opportunity for more women across the country to wear these pieces that do further introduce you to the dream of the brand and the runway message of the designers?’ We try to only focus on the runway brands and the red carpet staples.”
Today they work with over 55 brands to bring the most avant-garde, one-hit-wonders to the masses. Remember that Osman pants/dress combo Emma Watson wore to the 2016 White House Correspondents’ Dinner? They have it! And Mandy Moore’s bright yellow Prabal Gurung tiered gown from the 2016 Emmys? Yep, they have that too! In fact, they carry so many outfits celebrities have worn on the red carpet I decided to rent four gowns to see what this process is like.
RELATED PHOTOS: Oscars 2017: The Trends That Will Never Go Out of Style
Being that I live in N.Y.C., I first headed over to their showroom to check out the latest styles on-hand. I drooled over the racks and racks of high-end pieces, tried on their selection of stop-and-stare accessories and, of course, had to play dress-up in some of their most gorgeous dresses. Stylists were on-hand to help style each look, and more importantly, get me in and out of gowns. (I thought I might get lost in a few organza skirts.)
While the process of going into the showroom is exactly like you’d think it’d be (magical!), you can also order the dresses online. You get to keep the garments for four days, and all the return packaging is sent along with your items for easy returns (Armarium even handles the dry cleaning!). So I decided to choose my four favorite red carpet looks to call in for a little photo shoot to show just how easy (and fun!) the process is.
After putting on the Marchesa gown that Kendall Jenner wore to the Harper’s Bazaar Icons event, I’m certain I’ll never wear a more intricately made, elaborately embellished gown again in my life. After fighting to get the lining situated (which did take about 10 minutes), this dress fit beautifully. But with its column-style hem I have absolutely no idea how Kendall walked the red carpet. I had to wobble everywhere I went.
Rent It! Marchesa off-the-shoulder floral gown, $790 (retail value, $8,998); armarium.com
I’m not going to lie: I was terrified to try this dress on. Victoria’s Secret model Adriana Lima wore this to a Raising Malawi charity event. Based on the fact that, you know, I’m not a VS Angel, I was sure I was going to look like a cased sausage in this. But I went with my normal sizing (as the site recommends) and it ended up fitting like a glove. Even that risqué slit (if you can even call missing half a dress a slit) fell in the exact right place.
Rent It! Haider Ackermann long-sleeve velvet Hiram dress, $300 (retail value $1,978.46); armarium.com
Strapless gowns always give me a hard time. They never stay put and I’m constantly tugging the neckline back in place. But that was all before I wore a Prabal Gurung strapless gown. I could tell right away from the structured corset bodice that this baby wasn’t budging throughout the entire shoot. Jessica Chastain wore this to the 2016 CFDA Awards, and I would rent this again for any gala, black tie wedding (extra-fancy Saturday night?) in a heartbeat.
Rent It! Prabal Gurung strapless leaf-print hi-lo gown, $800; (retail value, $7,824); armarium.com
Sarah Hyland looked immaculate in this fit-and-flare A-line at the 2016 InStyle Awards because for one, she’s Sarah Hyland, and two it accentuates just the right parts of the body. Again, I stuck to my normal sizing and the bust was a little loose-fitting, but it wasn’t noticeable enough to stop me from wearing it.
Rent It! Carolina Herrera sleeveless boatneck cocktail dress, $350 (retail value $2,890); armarium.com
The Verdict: I’ll exclusively be shopping on Armarium for all weddings, galas and fancy affairs in my future. I typically buy dresses ranging $200-$400 for big, formal occasions, but usually stick to pieces with simple designs so I can re-wear them as many times as possible. The big problem with that is that I get sick of them quickly and it doesn’t show off my style. With Armarium, my most creative side always comes forward and my Instagram feed has never looked better. (These are the types of gowns that deserve to be Boomeranged as many times as possible.)
In addition to transforming you into a high-style fashionista, the company also offers some other very cool services you’ll want to know about.
They have a team of high-profile stylists on-hand to help you.
Armarium’s Style Brigade is made up of the most in-demand, high-profile stylists in the industry that are available (for an hourly rate) to style you just as they would their celebrity clientele! Among their heavy-hitting lineup is Kerry Washington’s stylist Erin Walsh, Naomie Harris’ stylist Micaela Erlanger, Fashion Police‘s George Kotsiopoulos, Vogue Mexico and Latin America’s editor-in-chief, Karla Martinez de Salas… and that’s just naming a few! You get the same exact treatment as their celeb clients do and if you don’t live in a big city like N.Y.C. or L.A., they can come to you or work with you virtually.
You can catch Armarium pop-up shops located throughout the country during the year.
Last year the company held a pop-up in Miami during Art Basel and in the Hamptons during the summer, and right now, they opened a temporary location in L.A. to serve all those red carpet event needs.
They have in-house stylists to assist you with any sizing questions and concerns.
Sometimes the biggest struggle in ordering dresses online (whether you’re renting or buying) is the sizing! Luckily, Armarium has a live chat feature on the site that connects you with in-house stylists to talk through all the fit concerns of any garment.
What do you think of Armarium? Will you be using it before your next black-tie affair? Tell us in the comments below.
