Gwynnie Bee Review + Free Month Coupon – October 2015
Gwynnie Bee is a clothing rental subscription service for women sizes 10-32. I have been intrigued with their concept for a while because I think plus-sized clothing is sorely underserved in the subscription box market. I have been really happy to have an opportunity to try them out!
Gwynnie Bee kindly invited me to try their service for review purposes. (Check out the review process post to learn more about how we review boxes).
The Subscription: Gwynnie Bee
The Cost: The cost depends on how many items you would like to have out at a time.
1 = $49/month
2 = $69/month
3 = $95/month
5 = $139/month
7 = $179/month
10 = $199/month
The Products: Women’s clothing rental, sizes 10-32
COUPON: Get your first month of Gwynnie Bee free with this link!
Ships to: US
Ships via: USPS Priority Mail
This review is of the 3 items at a time subscription from 9/21 through 10/20.
TRISTE – Vineyard Inspired Shift Dress
Let’s start things off right – with a Triste shift dress! I have been commenting lately on how these dresses are so flattering on my body type. Fortunately, they make lovely 3/4 sleeved ones such as this (as well as the short-sleeved ones I’ve been reviewing all summer). Hooray!
First of all, this dress was really slimming and very flattering overall. Unfortunately, it was a little too heavy for the September heat wave we were having, and a little too dressy for anything I had going on at the moment. This is one of the very few pieces I’ve received from GB that I didn’t wear out of the house, but I wish I had received it later in the year so I could have.
JETE – Kaleidoscope Printed Faux Wrap Dress
Somehow I wound up getting four faux wrap dresses this month, three of them from Jete. I don’t have many complaints about GB, but I do wish they would pay a little bit of attention to how often they send me the same style. Fortunately, these are very flattering and don’t show too much cleavage. I loved the jade color on this one, too.
CITY CHIC – Rockmelon Print Zip Front Tunic
It was technically too late in the season for me to wear this dress, but I’m soooo glad I did. It kind of looks like a train wreck on the dress form, but on me, somehow, it looked really flattering! Very slimming, and the draped pockets added tons of style. I got lots of compliments, actually! The colors are brighter than I would normally wear, but they really worked on me! Then when I had this piece at home, GB had a 35% off at-home items promo, so guess what? I bought it! This is only the second piece I’ve bought from GB, it really was that special. Sadly, I now have to wait until May to wear it again…
This kimono looked so cool online, but in real life it was pretty disappointing. I think knit and filmy fabrics don’t go so well together; I wasn’t expecting that. It just looked kind of dumpy on me. It does have a really pretty print, though. Not everything is going to be equally wonderful, I suppose.
LONDON TIMES – Fit & Flare Dress In Black & Gray Abstract
This dress was fine. It felt very feminine yet comfortable.
JETE – Galaxy Printed Faux Wrap Dress
This dress was super cool! It’s another Jete faux wrap, so it was flattering (the front panel is very forgiving). Plus I loved the space print.
This isn’t as far-out as the space dress, but this was definitely my favorite print of all the Jete faux-wrap dresses.
KAREN KANE – Cascade Wrap Dress in Abstract Plaid
This dress is prefect for fall! I love the fall colors. Otherwise it’s pretty similar to the other wrap dresses from this month.
The Verdict: Gwynnie Bee is now a regular and wonderful part of my day-to-day wardrobe, and I couldn’t be happier! This month I turned around 9 items, which is pretty average for a 3-at-a-time month in my experience. It’s true that I occasionally get something I don’t love, but that’s ok. I love having something different to wear practically every day!
What do you think of Gwynnie Bee?
Written by Anna Rodriguez
Cute! I love the galaxy dress, I have it on Priority! 🙂
Try the City Chic tunic with leggings and boots for the fall/winter. There is a group of GB girls on Facebook that post a lot of different looks and such and I’ve seen that a bunch of times done really cute with leggings and boots and maybe a cami underneath 🙂
Thanks for doing these reviews. I am currently a stay at home mom and I live in t-shirts and jeans and I need to cut down my subscription addiction. ;-). So, GB is not feasible for me yet. I think about a month before I am ready to go back to work trying this out would be cool. Especially since I would need to slowly rebuild my work wardrobe after 2 babies and body fluctuations.
I so wish they did plainer more classic clothing 🙁 I just can’t wear most prints so most of these items would be disasters for me. I prefer to wear mostly monochromatic clothing and accent with all the clothing and scarves from my boxes LOL. Anna,I don’t think I’ve seen anything that has been solid colour from them?
You can go through all the clothes they have available on their website!
Hi Anna – thanks for this review! I’m tempted to try this subscription (I’ve put on weight this past year due to new diagnosis of fibromyalgia and few of my clothes fit well anymore), but it seems a little pricey for just renting clothing pieces. However, the dresses you got are very cute! If I had to dress up more for work then I’d probably be more willing to try it. How quick is the turnaround time for sending a piece back and getting a new one to replace it (if I were to do the 1- or 2-item option)?
Hi Liz! My record with the 3-at-a-time option was 12 pieces in one month, I believe. So I assume if you got the 1-at-a-time option, your best would probably be turning around 4 items in a month? And maybe 8 with the 2-at-a-time? Tip: Report the item as returned as soon as you are done wearing it. Hope this helps!
Out of curiosity how much does it cost to keep an item you really love compared to the retail value of the pieces? Do they provide a decent discount?
Hi abdouglass, Yes, the discount is significant over retail, and then many of the pieces show up later in the “shop” section for dirt cheap. The first piece I bought was at an 80% discount, and this dress was about 60% over retail, if I recall correctly. But note that both of those had an additional 35% discount over their already discounted price. I hope that helps!
I wish you would photograph yourself wearing the clothes so we could get a better idea of what they look like on a real person. Thanks for the review though.
Thanks AnnD! If I were 8″ taller and 50 lbs thinner, I totally would, but I feel a little self-conscious about ‘modeling’ at the moment. I’m sorry!
Anna, sounds like you look like most of us! I too would love to see the pieces on you, but I completely understand if you’re not comfortable doing so. 🙂
LOL, thanks for the vote of confidence, Laurie!
Love that galaxy dress!!