Thursday, September 5, 2013

Special Occasion Rentals

Our rental catalogue is large and varied, and a big reason why we took the plunge and moved to the double unit.  Gearing up for Baltimore Comic Con this weekend, we have been going through our rental catalogue looking for pieces to use along with our created pieces (and we are SO excited to share them with you... in two days!) and found some amazing pieces we forgot about or never knew existed.  After this weekend, we will begin showcasing some of our favorite pulled Halloween costumes from past Halloweens or parties, and some costumes that we put together ourselves to inspire.

What you may not know about our Closet is that we also do special occasion rentals for galas, themed parties, and other special to upscale events.  We can provide amazing and atypical gowns, alterations, and styling help for a fraction of the price of buying a gown off the rack that you may never wear again.  It's good for the environment, good for your wallet, and fun for everyone involved. Some of our favorite appointments have been for women who are going to parties and need a dress or accessories for the gown they already bought. 

We have current, vintage, and so-vintage-it's-current dresses and gowns from all fashions and periods.  We can provide style lines from every period to highlight your body's best features (I myself should have been born in the Romantic period... Empire waists and scoop necks are my jam.) Here we've highlighted some of the fantastic events our dresses, along with our beautiful clients (and sometimes ourselves!), have attended.

Our client Alyssa dressed up in Roaring 20s style for the Woolly Mammoth Theatre Gala. The hot pink sequined dress and black opera gloves came from our Closet and the fascinator was a custom-built-for-rental that now resides in the Closet. 


Photo credit: Woolly Mammoth 
Photo credit: Woolly Mammoth Theatre

Another client, Felicia, rented a lime green and orange with gold embroidery two piece sari-inspired gown that we just love for another woman to wear at the Annapolis Film Festival.  The Oscar costume was a custom costume we built for the event (and blogged about here), which now belongs to the Film Festival.  
  
Photo credit: Felicia Barlowe Clar
Photo credit: Annapolis Film Festival
Photo credit: Annapolis Film Festival

My bridal shower was an adorable late morning mimosas-and-crumpets affair (special thanks to my bridal party!), and Meghan wore a slate blue tea length dress from the Closet.  You can find it in the 40s section of our online catalogue.
  
Photo credit: personal collection

Photo credit: Kathleen Mansfield 
Photo credit: Kathleen Mansfield

I attended the wedding of one of my very good friends in June at Ceresville Mansion in Frederick. The ceremony was outdoors and the reception was inside, so I needed something that would be elegant but also breezy so I wouldn't melt in the late June swelter.  I found this amazing silk handkerchief dress in the 70s section of our Closet and fell in love!  

trying it on in the Studio! 
photo credit: personal collection


photo credit: personal collection

One of our lovely contractors, Sylvia, rented a dress from the 70s section of the Closet to attend this year's Helen Hayes Awards at Sidney Harmon Hall in downtown DC.  The rosy undertone perfectly compliments her fair skin and auburn hair. 
  
Photo credit: Sylvia Fuhrken

Photo credit: Sylvia Fuhrken

Photo credit: Sylvia Fuhrken

This year's overarching theme at the Laurel Museum is the Civil War, so it follows that the annual Laurel Museum Gala was also Civil War themed.  We have some beautiful Civil War era dresses that we got on our Gettysburg trip, but we ended up going with a dress we found in the 50s section and styling it with a white sash to give it that ultra-vintage feel.  Style lines often repeat themselves throughout the decades and centuries; it just takes a practiced eye to know the different iterations. 

Photo credit: Laurel Museum



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