Renting luxury

Wearing the latest trend is gaining more weight than actually owning it, thanks to several sites that offer customers the experience of 'renting' or 'borrowing' items.

Milton Pedraza, the director of the Luxury Institute, a consumer research group, would have said I was renting not just a look but an experience: In this case, the feeling of one-upmanship that comes with flaunting the season's most sought-after items.

"With luxury goods," Pedraza said by phone, "many people today are more interested in collecting experiences than they are in actually owning the asset." He added that even among the not- so-rich, the thrill of possession palls fast. Wealthy people in particular "are tired of the clutter in their lives," he said. "They don't want the hassles of ownership. More than possessions, they want variety."

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