We Test & Rate Online Fashion Clubs

If you’ve seen the first “Sex and the City” movie, you’ll remember this scene:



Carrie: So Louise from St. Louis, I just have one more question. How does an unemployed girl with three roommates afford the Patchwork Denim Bowly Louis Vuitton bag?

Louise: It’s rented. Bag, Borrow, or Steal? It’s like Netflix for purses.

Carrie: How can I not know about this?

Louise: Girl, stick with me. I’ll hook you up.

Renting a handbag? Like Carrie, that concept completely blew our minds. Finally, every girl would have a chance to hold a real Chanel purse at least once in her lifetime (then quickly return it). And as it turns out, Bag, Borrow, and Steal isn’t the only high-end rental company in town. Today, you can rent gowns, accessories, even real diamonds.

Click here for the best (and worst) online fashion deals.

But what if renting isn’t your thing? You just might like the online shopping phenomenon on the rise — the private shopping club. Often with a celeb spokeswoman (think Kim Kardashian, the Olsen twins), these clubs hock shoes, handbags, T-shirts, and accessories. For a monthly membership fee, a new fashion treat arrives at your doorstep each month.

It usually works like this: You pay your monthly fee, then you take a take a style quiz. Based on your answers, you’re offered a selection of fashion items available to club members that month. Don’t like the offerings? You can skip, but with certain limits, so it’s not totally without risk.

So, rent and return, or buy and own? Which is better? And with many clubs offering the same products, how do you know which is really worth the money?

We did fashion deal digging and found out the truth.

Click here for the best (and worst) online fashion deals.