【英文原文】 New Year\'s Eve requires the ultimate party outfit. But what if you have already run your dressy wardrobe ragged during the holiday season? Or you feel as if it\'s time to ring in 2006 with something fresh? Or your holiday spending has burned holes in your designer denim pockets? The answer might be to rent a little luxury. The renting business has begun to lose the stigma of an industry filled with knockoff designer tuxedos, Halloween costumes or out-of-date evening wear. Still largely an industry dedicated to special-event clothing (gala dinners, corporate parties, weddings), it has started to branch out into more casual clothing. And for those not afraid to shop around, it has become an option for dressing well on a budget. At the London-based eveningwear rental company One Night Stand (onenightstand.co.uk), there are more than 500 dresses for rent with 25 percent of the stock bought new every year. The owner, Joanna Doniger, started the company when she got fed up with people borrowing her dresses. "I thought why couldn\'t they go out and buy their own," she says with a laugh. But they can\'t; for the price of one of her rentals (£150, or $260, for a four-day period), the only things available in most department stores are dresses that look as if they are late for the prom. "Working women have sophisticated tastes, but buying an evening dress is a very expensive proposition, and most people don\'t want to wear the same dress more than once," says Doniger. |