Why I started Dress For A Night

I started Dress for a Night from a personal experience. I was invited to a black tie dinner and I felt like I had nothing to wear. I knew I wanted to dress to impress, feel confident, empowered. I valued the people who invited me. I wanted to show them I appreciate the invite. However, I had just moved to a new city and I had no idea where to shop. A trip to a store that advertised “formal wear” left me deflated as the environment felt pretentious and hostile. My online search and stroll through the mall left me with money in my hand and no outfit still. All I wished for was somebody I could talk to (I hadn’t been in the city long enough to form friendships with girls whose clothes I could borrow). I wanted to be told “don’t worry girl, I got you” and find the perfect outfit. Was that too much to ask?

In 2015 I decided to go for it. I got on the phone, called my favourite designers and started with one rack of 20 dresses. I thought initially it would just be an online store. But my very first customer wanted to the try the dress on. Okay sure, why not! I built a makeshift change room and opened the doors to our “showroom” aka a tiny little office in the back of a bridal studio.

I had NO idea how many women were exactly like me: wanting to look amazing but really not feeling like I can wear designer looks! The reasoning may have varied; from not wanting to spend so much on a dress you’d wear once, body confidence, or just not knowing how or where to start! Thats when I knew I could help make fashion attainable for everyone! Bring luxury closer to you, in a welcome way and without the environmental impact.

From the tiny little office to two retail stores and a busy online site, I always remember my mission; To bring women a welcoming environment with all the awesome fashion they could imagine. But I realised it is so much bigger than this.

I love the concept of renting a dress. Because every time you rent a dress you save a garment from going to landfill. You reduce your footprint by taking part in a sustainable approach to fashion. In 2019 we embarked on our journey to make our business greener. We eliminated one piece of single use plastic from our packaging and recycle all packaging for postage orders. The only place where we still use plastic is for our store-pick up orders.