High-end Fashion Meets Netflix Model

Imagine you’re a college student (on a budget). The stresses are piling up as the semester winds down, and finals and formals are quickly approaching. Wait, formals!

Yes, formals, and Christmas parties, and a New Years Eve night about town. The cost of acquiring a trendy high-end fashionable dress can break the budget. Special occasion dresses are not the best investment either, on account of their one-to-two time use.

Two brilliant ladies, Jennifer Hyman and Jennifer Carter, founded Rent the Runway. Rent the Runway is a nascent Web site that allows women to rent dresses from notable fashion designers like Hervé Léger and Christian Siriano, winner of “Project Runway,” for nearly one-tenth of the retail store price.

Harvard Business School graduate, Jennifer Hyman, came up with the idea after her younger sister agonized over whether to spend a good portion of her salary for an expensive wedding outfit.

"Here was this young girl who loves fashion and was willing to spend a good portion of her salary on a dress that she's only going to wear once or twice, and I thought, there has to be a solution for this," said Ms. Hyman. 

At a boutique, Mr. Siriano's pieces can cost as much as $3,000. On Rent the Runway, his collection goes for $150 to $200, said Jenna Worthman, journalist for the New York Times technology. 

Rent the Runway makes high-end fashions almost as easy as renting a movie from Netflix. Although the business strategy has not publicly been discussed, there is general information available about the works. 

The rentals run $50 to $200 for a four-night loan and are shipped directly to the customer. After wearing the dress, the customer mails it off with a prepaid envelope. Oh, and dry cleaning is included in the fee! 

Rent the Runway is hoping that the shop-by-the-Web convenience and high-end fashion collection will give it the edge of competing with retail stores that already offer dresses for rent. 

I'm stoked about Rent the Runway! The only downside, and I say this only because this does not yet include me, is the invitation-only service. I do agree that limiting the customers gives Rent the Runway an air of exclusivity. 

I went to the Web site and requested a membership, since I have yet to receive an invitation! 

Is pale the new tan?

Apparently "fake baking" has greater health risk than the general pubic thought, including me. According to the msnbc health blog, the chance of developing skin cancer jumps 75 percent in those who use tanning beds before the age of 30. 

The Indoor Tanning Association, also known as the ITA, started a campaign to fight back the negative image the media is portraying about tanning beds. The association sent a letter to the New York Times entitled "Indoor Tanning Association Fights Back After Media Hype over Tanning Beds." Their argument is that indoor tanning carries the same risks as outdoor tanning, since the beds are designed to mimic natural sun light. 

If anything is likely to benefit from the study, it's sunless tanners. Although results from spray tanning and tanning creams can sometimes be "spotty" or "orangy," it's still the less extreme measure of getting that summer glow -- hence no UV rays. 

Well I say ditch the tan that comes with scary health risk, and go all natural! Pale is so the new tan. Celebs like Nicole Kidman and Scarlett Johansson are setting the "proud to be pale" trend. According to a few fashion blogs, pale is simply classy and sexy. If Hollywood can really pull through with undoing the tan trend they endorsed, then imagine what else it's capable of...