Using Rent The Runway Like A Pro

I’ve been joking lately that you really need to stalk the New Arrivals page at Rent the Runway just to get to pieces first before they’re worn A TON — only to realize many of my friends hadn’t thought of it before. If you’re an RTR member, you’re probably just as obsessed as I am!

Search by "New Arrivals" first.

Every Saturday, Rent the Runway drops new items in its collection—a mix of seasonal clothing as well as accessories. I suggest allowing notifications from RTR on your phone so that you get the pop-up to search as soon as it opens up. Often times, all four of my items will come from New Arrivals that week. You'll not only have fresher designs people haven't checked out yet, but also will typically get clothes that still have the tags on, untouched.

Choose items that don't have a ton of reviews.

Same principle as above, even if an item isn't one of the "new" ones, if you check it out and it doesn't have hundreds of photos of women wearing the piece and thousands of reviews, it's probably a piece that hasn't been worn a ton.

Lean into picking separates.

I don't own a lot of dresses and jumpsuits, and RTR was a great, easy way to experiment with wearing things I would've never bought. That said, one-pieces are usually the most popular and likely to be similarly styled by other people. Opting instead for tops, pants, skirts, etc. to mix in with your own clothes and accessories allows you more possibilities (and less chances to get your outfit IDed as another RTR item). The other day ELLE's Beauty Director Katie Becker was wearing this orange knitted, double slit skirt I immediately fell in love with. When she told me it was RTR, I—someone who has combed through thousands of RTR pages—was totally surprised.

Hold on to items for longer.

ELLE.com's Style Director Nikki Ogunnaike jokingly mentioned that her tip is to "just hold on to things so no one else can get it," but she makes a smart point! One of my favorite times to use RTR is during the winter, when I would hold on to incredible coats (some with a retail value of well over $2,000) for weeks, or even a whole month, at a time. Coats are expensive, so it saved me a ton of money to not have to buy any all season, and allowed me to experiment with more out-there designs (faux fur! Color blocking! Giant puffers!) instead of my usual, safe, boring black coats.

Favor solid-colored clothing.

Patterns are wonderful but really memorable (I can't tell you the number of times I've seen the same yellow floral dress on the subway). If you really want to pass off an RTR piece as your own, the easiest way is to go for something that's nondescript and could've been from any designer. I also tend to like solid-colored items because they're easy to style.

And if you happen to be new to Rent the Runway, welcome!

I love the service and just to get you started here’s a promo code for $200 off your first two months of Unlimited ($100 off each month). The biggest discount you’ll find, from $159 to $59 (+ tax)! — RTRNORA