Style for Rent: How to Get Your Hands on a Designer Handbag Rental

Gulp. Judging by this beyond-depressing economic downturn, your plans to treat yourself to a Gucci handbag have gone south (along with your 401k). And while the financial pages don’t seem to be offering much in the way of silver linings these days, Single Minded Women has found one that just might appeal to your fashionista side: a designer handbag rental service. Read on to score luxury styles—including designer handbags, sunglasses, and more—for less. Just don’t form any attachments, okay?

Remember Bag Borrow or Steal, the temporary Louis Vuitton supplier of choice for Carrie’s assistant Louise in Sex and the City? The company is now known as Avelle, and is adding high-end jewelry and sunglasses to its covetable stash of designer handbags (including Coach, Chanel, Fendi, Burberry, and, yes, Gucci). Here’s how to get your hands on the high-fashion goodness. Just visit the site (at Avelle.com (http://www NULL.bagborroworsteal NULL.com/)) and search by designer or occasion to find the couture candy you crave. If it’s currently occupied, you can add your name to a wait list. If it’s free, “borrow” it by paying a fee that can range from $15 to around $150 a week, depending on the caliber of the label. Joining the site grants you a more affordable membership rate, plus access to select members-only finds.

Once borrowed, Avelle will send you the designer handbag of your dreams, which is yours to keep for as long as you like—a week, two weeks, a month… Sure, you’ll have to give it back eventually, but oh, what a month.

And what of those designer jewelry and sunglasses now up for grabs? Louis Vuitton, Chanel, Fendi, Yves Saint Laurent, A.B.S. by Allen Schwartz, and Alexis Bittar baubles are a sampling of what’s on offer, plus sleek shades from Tom Ford, Prada, Linda Farrow, Balenciaga, Chloe, Christian Dior, and other luxury labels.

Avelle isn’t the only designer handbag rental service on the market. Check out these like-minded luxury-for-less sites:

From Bags to Riches: Stocks Calvin Klein, Coach, Via Spiga, Chloe, Chanel, Christian Dior, Dooney & Bourke, and more, with the option to buy select bags.

RentMeaHandbag (http://www NULL.rentmeahandbag NULL.com/): In addition to designer handbags from the likes of Louis Vuitton and Bottega Veneta, this service offers rentals on luxury shoes (hello, Christian Louboutins!) and clothing for me and women. The sky’s the limit.

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