Does this look good on me? A common question asked by one woman to another coming out of store dressing rooms across the country may now have something of an online equivalent with the introduction earlier this week of "Our Runway," a social shopping platform on Rent the Runway, a website for dress and accessory rentals.
Our Runway allows women to share snapshots of how they looked in a particular garment so that others with similar body types can get an idea of how they would look. The site is promoting the option as a break from super thin women who typically model clothes.
"Consumers today are incredibly smart and truly care about seeing what a product looks like on a real woman," said Jennifer Hyman, CEO and co-founder of Rent the Runway, in a press release. "With Our Runway, we are creating a platform for the everyday woman to discover amazing styles that work best for her body, and forming a community that celebrates every woman's special moments. It's empowering to see thousands of photos of diverse women of all ages, sizes and ethnicities feeling self-confident."
Women looking for a dress on the site go to its "Find Women Like Me" tool to enter their height, age, bust and dress size and age to "view thousands of women with comparable shapes in dresses available for rent."
"We are going to see a continuing steady stream of this," Kelly O'Keefe, a professor at Virginia Commonwealth University's Brandcenter, told The New York Times. "It has the advantage for the consumer of seeing how something looks on real people, which is very attractive, and it has the advantage for the brand of getting real user participation, which is great. The disadvantage: people are an imperfect species."