Meet Vicky and Nikoleta Lirantonakis – two sisters innovating Boston’s fashion scene one rental dress at a time. The founders of the newly opened Charlestown boutique, Best Dressed, have managed to turn the popular Rent-the-Runway online concept into a brick-and-mortar designer dress rental store, offering designer dresses (think: Rebecca Taylor, Shoshanna, and Halston Heritage) for rent, along with jewelry and accessories for sale.

Vicky explains: “Similar online services in the Boston area do not provide women the opportunity to try on an outfit before committing to a rental, which is why we decided to launch Best Dressed.” The overarching goal of the store though, Vicky tells us, is to help Bostonians pull together an entire look for any given occasion.

Vicky’s sister and Best Dressed co-founder, Nikoleta, handles the everyday styling at the store. The style curator, who happens to have 10 years of fashion industry experience as a buyer, merchandiser and stylist, is on site seven days a week to offer customers personalized styling advice. “She loves to help women look and feel their best,” Vicky tells BostInno.

Here, Vicky Lirantonakis, tells BostInno about their new store and what Bostonians can expect.

Marian White: Where did you and your sister, Nikoleta, get the idea to open Best Dressed?

Vicky Lirantonakis: A few things inspired us. What really helped us come up with the concept was hearing our friend complain that the dress she rented online was unflattering. She said she was going to wear it anyway, because she paid for it and didn’t have time to find another one. Everyone is different and what looks good on one person may look terrible on another. You really have to try things on before you commit. We also just really love dressing up and feeling glamorous, so Best Dressed just made sense and gave us the platform to be able to help other women look and feel their best.

MW: Why did the two of you decide to make the leap and open this store in the Boston area?

VL: Our roots and relationships are all here. We grew up in Salem, and have gone to school, lived and worked in Boston for years. We couldn’t be happier that we opened our first store in the Charlestown Navy Yard. The community here has been so welcoming, it’s been amazing!

MW: How would one go about renting a dress from your store?

VL: My sister, Nikoleta, is our Style Curator, she has over 10 years of experience as a buyer, merchandiser, and stylist. When you come in, we explain some details about what the client is looking for, so that we can suggest dresses. At this point we have pretty much seen every single dress on, so we can speak to how they fit, but ultimately, we encourage everyone to be open and try multiple dresses on. We find that people are often surprised that they love a particular dress that they didn’t initially select.

We also help clients find jewelry and other accessories to enhance and complete their look. We offer jewelry both for sale and for rent, as well as a limited selection of clutches for rent. We also recently added Gigi leather goods such as clutches, totes and crossbody bags to our inventory, as well as Zero Gravity cell phone cases and Pure Lip Glosses.

Our dress rentals range from $40 to $150 and we currently offer 5 day rentals. We are currently carrying sizes 0-14, with a few options in petites across the various sizes.

MW: What item and summer trends are you most excited about?

VL: It’s hard to pick just one, we love so many dresses. We wish we had more events to attend so we could wear them all! Although, we are really excited about the dresses with cut-outs. For summer 2015, we have been buying dresses in bold colors, dresses with cut-outs, some fun prints, as well as backless and midi dresses.

MW: Is there any upcoming Best Dressed news you’d like to share with our readers?

VL: We would love for readers to know that we add new inventory to our collection each week. We will be curating our fall/winter collection soon, and getting ready for all the upcoming holiday parties!

For more information about Best Dressed, visit www.bestdressedcharlestown.com and follow the store on social media for the latest inventory and inspiration. The store is located at 197 8th St #750 in Charlestown.

Images courtesy of Best Dressed