What is Tonight’s Dress?
Tonight’s Dress is an app, created by a current Villanova student, that allows for student-to-student formal dress rentals. Not only is this more sustainable for the environment, but it is also more sustainable for your wallet. In the feed, users can post dresses to rent or sell, and you can filter by size, length, and color. You are even able to search a user’s name to see what they have available. All these features make it a lot easier to shop for your next dress without having to search through lots of websites trying to find the best deal because all dresses rent for only $17 total. Personally, I do not always have the time to find a dress that is both cute and affordable. For those new to dress rental systems, the app handles a lot of the steps in the process to remove pressure from users making it easier to go to your event looking and feeling your best.
Renting a Dress
To set up a dress you want to rent, all you need to do is post a picture of the dress, fill out the size, color, and length. In the caption, the owner can describe the fit in a little more detail or discuss if the dress has been worn before. Some will even add suggestions, for example if the material is more see-through (which can be tricky to tell from a picture) to wear a certain type of bra or not. A lot of users typically include the brand of the dress as well, so if a brand tends to fit you a certain way, you can know that before you reach out to the owner. This app can give you confidence in the closet-swap process since a lot is dependent on your conversation with the owner.
You can scroll through and ‘like’ dresses, almost like putting them in a cart, so you can compare and decide later if you want to message the owner or not. In the chat feature, you also can arrange a meet up with the owner to try the dress on before renting. Dresses will be rented for $15 with a service fee of $2, totaling to $17 total – and all of this can be handled through the app by adding your credit card in your account settings where you can also review your borrowing and lending history.
The Benefits
If you’re looking to make some quick cash between events, this is an easy way to earn $15 per rental. If you’re renting a dress, $17 dollars is a lot cheaper than $60 which some of these dresses would go for if you were to buy them. You can set the availability of a dress and share cleaning instructions, so you control when you are willing to rent along with knowing if the dress you fell in love with is already in use. If someone is late returning the dress, you can nudge them through the app, which removes some of the need of having to follow up with someone or worrying about exchanging contact information. The best part is, you know that it is not just sitting in your closet being unused after only a couple wears. It is like any other marketplace platform, but you are renting from other students – so your dresses will always be trendy!