Spring racing: Cut costs and look good during the peak party season
The cost of looking good during the spring racing carnival and Christmas party period can quickly add up but there are simple ways to cut your costs.
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THE party season is well and truly alive as calendars fill up with events including the spring races and end-of-year celebrations.
Fast fashion means looking good while keeping social media accounts fresh with fancy new outfits, and can be an expensive exercise.
This has forced partygoers to hunt for ways to cut costs.
Amelia Johnson, 38, runs an event-styling business that involves wearing the latest on-trend designs, so she’s turned to hiring garments instead of buying them.
“I started hiring dresses specifically for going to the races or going to work events,” she said.
“I’m now signed up to a premium subscription service so I have unlimited selections that arrive to me three at a time. It suits me perfectly.”
Ms Johnson said she hired clothes for “cost and time efficiency, and sustainability, because there’s wastage around events”.
She signed up to online dress hire service GlamCorner’s premium deal where users pay $149 per month for unlimited hire. Customers can order three pieces at a time before returning them for another batch of three items, and don’t pay for dry-cleaning.
Ms Johnson’s co-worker Emily Brady, 23, said being in a job where she constantly had to wear new and on-trend designs was expensive, so hiring clothes limited damage on her wallet.
“I could easily spend anywhere from $800 to $1500 on an outfit for an event, so I would have been buying one dress and wearing it over and over again,” she said.
GlamCorner marketing manager Kelly Centellas said the website had more than 25,000 items to rent from $49 per garment.
“With social media people don’t like to wear things more than once at social events,” she said.
“It’s cost beneficial for the user and it’s sustainable. We send out up to 60 tonnes of clothing a month that’s not going into landfill.”
Other popular clothing hire companies include The Volte, Dress Hire and Style Theory.
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Consumer finance specialist Lisa Montgomery said “if you don’t do black tie and don’t go to the races all the time hiring can save you money”.
“If you need to be seen in a new outfit all the time hiring is a much more affordable option,” she said.
“Or you could even buy a dress and hire accessories like hats or fascinators that you don’t wear all the time.”
Originally published as Spring racing: Cut costs and look good during the peak party season