What I Wore to a French Wedding — and Why I Rented It

Why buy a polyester dress from a fast fashion brand when you can rent couture for your next wedding for the same price?

My former colleague from Madame Figaro (we were the only non-French girls in the office, which created an instant bond) invited me to her wedding in Brittany last year. As soon as I received her stunning, handmade invitation, I asked myself the obvious question: What will I wear?

She’s one of the most fashionable people I know and we styled many photo shoots together, so the pressure was on! I wanted to find a long evening dress that is elegant, ethereal, and sustainable. I browsed both online and in-store options before landing on a solution I already loved but hadn’t yet used for a wedding: rental fashion.

Renting has become one of my favorite ways to dress for special occasions, especially when you want to wear something outstanding without spending a fortune. Between the dress, shoes, and accessories, the costs can add up fast! I had just discovered a Parisian rental platform that specializes in evening wear, perfectly named Une Robe Un Soir (which means a dress a night).

We were planning a road trip from Germany to Brittany anyway (who could say no to a summer road trip through France?), so I added a stop in Paris to visit their showroom.

How Rental Fashion Works

With Une Robe Un Soir, you can book a visit in their gorgeous showroom in a traditional Haussmann building in the 8th arrondissement. This is great, because that meant I could try on many different options before deciding on a dress. I always find it so important to try things on, so this is a huge benefit. I know that the platform My Wardrobe HQ partners with the department store Harrods in London, so you can also try on their pieces in person.

Some rental platforms are fully digital, but many will work with you if you ask, whether that’s trying items at home or visiting a local showroom. I always recommend reaching out directly!

My mom recently rented a look — which I’m honestly so proud of. She used the German platform Dresscoded to rent a beautiful gold gown and earrings for a garden wedding. The rental platform sent her options to try at home and even did small alterations to ensure the dress fit perfectly. She looked stunning and said she got so many compliments at the wedding!

Why to Rent for Special Occasions

What I love most about rental fashion is that you can be a bit more experimental with your style. I tend to shop neutral tones (my closet is filled with white, blue, beige and black) and I stick to timeless designs. But with rental fashion I tried on a few dresses that were out of my normal style (as that pink Jacquemus dress I’ll tell you more about shortly!)

It also lets me occasionally wear pieces made from synthetics — something I don’t buy new, but I feel ok about renting since they’re part of a circulating system and not contributing to waste that doesn’t biodegrade.

And of course, it’s a major budget win. Instead of spending over a thousand euros on an outfit, I can rent something truly special from fashion houses like Fendi, Elie Saab, Valentino, Givenchy, Chanel, and Jacquemus, to newer names like Maria Lucia Hohan or Solace London. At Une Robe Un Soir, prices ranged from 69€ to 799€ for a four-day rental (the highest was a handmade Valentino gown). I’ll tell you what I paid below.

What I Rented for my Friend’s Wedding

I easily spent 90 minutes at the showroom trying on one beautiful dress after another. In the end, I chose:

• a golden silk dress by Maria Lucia Hohan, with soft pleats and a timeless feel — 219€ for 4 days

• a pink Jacquemus dress made from polyester — bolder and unexpected for me, but a lot of fun to wear — 419€ for 4 days

I paired them with a pink Valentino clutch and a silver YSL clutch, both rented (but sadly no longer on their site). I assume that someone bought them, many rental platforms offer that option and it’s basically shopping vintage for a much better price point than buying new.

We took both looks on our road trip, and I wore the Jacquemus dress to the rehearsal dinner and the Maria Lucia Hohan dress to the wedding itself. We shot the looks around the hotels we stayed at — let me know if you’d be interested in a separate write-up on those places!

I’d love to hear what you think about rental fashion — have you tried it? Would you want a full guide to all the platforms I’ve researched or used? I’d be happy to share more!

Thank you for reading this week’s newsletter and see you next Thursday!

x Sarah

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