Luxury on Loan

San Francisco women are typically early adopters of online trends, the latest of which is collaborative consumption—they loan it, you borrow it, and return it no strings attached. The idea of a no-waste fashion philosophy speaks volumes to a city that is one of the greenest in the world. So when "Luxury on Loan" Pop-Up Armarium founders Alexandra Lind Rose and Trisha Gregory showed up last week with a stunning array of gowns, San Francisco took notice.


The new de Gournay showroom on Sacramento Street was a fairy tale location for the high glamour event. This magical pop-up was the brainchild of Allison Speer who is San Francisco's fairy godmother of all things artistic and luxurious. If you judge a city by its offerings in the arts alone, you can thank Allison for helping to build and cultivate our world class museums, oh! and our world class shopping.

During the pop-up many women had the opportunity to discover first hand how Alexandra and Trisha are "democratizing" high end fashion. The Armarium offering of statement gowns straight from fashion houses such as Ferragamo, Marchesa and Emilio Pucci are above and beyond the offerings found on other rental sites. The collection is highly cultivated, unique and bold so much so that "Francesca" (our SF woman) would probably prefer to take it on loan rather than own, because how many times can she wear a gown like this without someone noticing? And why choose just one when there are so many to choose from?

Trisha and Alexandra both cut their teeth in the NYC fashion industry and have access to designers and gowns that are generally out of reach to most. It was wonderful to try on the dresses and book a few without shelling out thousands and wondering, When will I ever wear this 'investment' again? The fabric and craftsmanship of the gowns is the stuff of dreams, like those gowns sewn in the Valentino biopic The Last Emperor.

As usual the Italian designers won my heart but all of Aramarium's offerings were pretty much mind-blowing. Ultimately I chose the Alberta Ferretti "Printed Floral Tie Front Gown" and Missoni "Tiered Fringe Mini Dress". The other benefit of the collaborative consumption model is the introduction to designers you may never hear of, such as Esteban Cortazar and Prabal Gurung.

Sharing the de Gournay gallery, that felt like a room in Versailles, was Flont, a jewelry on loan company that dazzles with its sheer beauty and uniqueness. Flont offers a subscription suitable for royalty: You pay $250 a month for access to $5,000 worth of statement jewelry. At the end of the month you return it and choose a new piece. When talking to Susan Shin you realize how much their heart is in the game in this sharing economy.

Alexandra Lind Rose & The Gowns, at de Gournay.

Susan Shin shows off Flont's unique pieces.

Alexandra Lind Rose, Trisha Gregory and Susan Shin


It was a lovely day at de Gournay!  




#deGournay #Armarium #Flont #AllisonSpeerPR #Missoni #AlbertaFerretti #PrabalGurung #EstebanCortazar #AlexandraLindRose #TrishaGregory #FrancescaBaySF #collaborativeconsumption #greenfashion #sanfrancisco #luxuryonloan #Sacramentostreet #pacificheightsshopping


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