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RentTheRunway.com loans high-end fashions

What's on your wish list this holiday season? Perhaps a designer dress, perfectly paired accessories, and makeup to tie it all together?

What's on your wish list this holiday season? Perhaps a designer dress, perfectly paired accessories, and makeup to tie it all together?

Well, quit wishing, says RentTheRunway.com, a designer fashion-rental website that lends high-end looks for 10 to 15 percent of their retail price. It was founded by Jennifer Hyman and Jennifer Fleiss, who met at Harvard Business School.

Site visitors can browse dresses by more than 150 designers, such as Escada, Nicole Miller, Lela Rose, and Rachel Roy. When they find something they like, they can have it shipped in two sizes to help ensure a good fit. For an extra $25, they can select another dress style as a backup and have it delivered in two sizes as well. The website offers size suggestions, such as whether a dress tends to run big or snug.

RentTheRunway also supplies more than 4,000 accessories, Spanx, and beauty products. Six days a week, stylists can be reached by phone, e-mail, or live online chat for assistance in building an ensemble.

Four- or eight-day rental options are available. Dress rentals start at about $40, accessories at about $10. In New York City, orders are shipped by messenger the same day they are placed, and they are sent overnight for the rest of the country.