Five places to hire designer dresses in the UAE inspired by Kate's royal rental

The royal rented a lime green dress to wear to The Earthshot Prize awards ceremony in Boston

Britain's Prince William and his wife Kate at The Earthshot Prize awards ceremony in Boston. The Princess of Wales wore a lime green dress, rented for the occasion. AP Photo

As well as championing British designers during a three-day tour of Boston with Prince William, Kate, Duchess of Cambridge, also rented a designer dress instead of buying one for the occasion, to keep her choice sustainable.

In Boston for The Earthshot Prize awards ceremony, the Princess of Wales donned a lime green Sabrina dress from Solace London as she stepped out at MGM Music Hall at Fenway.

The dress was hired from Hurr, a UK rental platform, at a cost of only £74 ($91) per night according to People magazine.

The Princess of Wales paired the dress with a diamond and emerald necklace that previously belonged to Princess Diana.

As well as helping to reduce fabric waste in landfills, renting an outfit is a great way to save money, especially if you’re the type of person that doesn’t like to re-wear the same thing too many times. Renting dresses also doesn’t require a lot of long-term storage space.

As the festive season and its myriad occasions approach, following in the royal's footsteps and renting your celebratory outfit might be something worth considering. Here’s five places where you can rent a designer outfit in the UAE, for a fraction of the retail price.

D24

Specialising in luxury fashion, D24 offers dresses, accessories, bags and more on rent. Fashionistas can make an appointment to visit the showroom in JLT for complimentary advice from a stylist who will guide you to pick outfits suited to the desired style, budget and occasion. There's also an online service where you can choose what you want to rent after browsing the products on the website.

All rentals come with a free delivery services, insurance and dry cleaning.

Best Kept Shared

Sophie Kjoller and Kelly Power are the founders of Best Kept Shared, a peer-to-peer luxury fashion rental platform in Dubai that is launching with the aim to become the “Airbnb of designer fashion”.

The “social style of shopping” will feature women’s designer clothing, handbags and accessories from members’ closets, with garments rentable by all verified members in the platform's community. A concierge service will wait outside a renter’s home once items are delivered, so that they can be tried on, as per the brand’s “fit guarantee”.

The company will also allow rentals directly from a curated selection of local and regional designers with the likes of Emirati couturiers Gaffe Studios, as well as contemporary womenswear designers Riyeka Studios, which has already signed up to join the platform that is launching soon.

Rent Your Wardrobe

Rent Your Wardrobe, a clothes rental platform in Dubai offers monthly, quarterly and annual clothes subscription packages, which offer customers a choice of apparel to suit their requirements, free cleaning and sanitisation services, as well as free pick-up and drop services. It offers a womenswear collection, including casual wear, party wear and formals. The Dubai business also helps people sell their pre-loved clothes, thereby promoting circular fashion.

SW One Fashion

Dubai fashion-for-hire platform SW One Fashion, founded by Sawsan Waleed, stocks couture and ready-to-wear gowns by brands such as Gucci, Valentino and Zuhair Murad (including gowns and clutches that are one-off pieces), sourced from the world’s fashion capitals.

While many of the outfits are available in one size only, SW One also offers alteration services for the ultimate “red carpet” styling experience.

And if you are a soon-to-be-bride working within a budget, the company also has an entire section of ready-made bridal dresses as well as rental gowns.

The Hour Dress

Offering glamorous evening dresses and a wide range of accessories, The House Dress is the place to go when you want to something special.

Located in Dubai's City Walk, the company has a variety of designer wear for rent, including Versace, Maison Geyanna and Mohammad Murad. Prices range from about Dh200 to hire sparkling hair jewels to more than Dh9,000 for a periwinkle Zuhair Murad gown that costs Dh182,000 to buy new.