In a week full of shows in iconic New York locations, Rentrayage’s presentation at ABC Carpet and Home fit right with the theme. But Erin Beatty had an even better reason for showing there: She is launching a line of home goods at the beloved institution. “We’ve had ‘home’ on the website for a while, but this is the first time we’ve launched our own pieces that we’ve developed,” she explained.
The spring collection was thus inspired by the home collection. A striped button-down shirt had a patch pocket appliquéd with a small embroidered handkerchief, and was paired with a hybrid maxi skirt made from the hips and waist of a pair of jeans and a skirt made from the body of a trench coat. “We had all these vintage trench coats where we used the tops but hadn’t used the bottoms, so we’ve just been trying to figure out ways that we could use them,” Beatty said. Vintage lace tablecloths were turned into frilly bralettes and drape-y blouses, whose romantic frills were grounded by a shirred-waist army green maxi skirt and a pair of long denim shirts with a reconstructed sand-color camo print jacket. Beatty is well known for her upcycled denim pieces, but lately it is her tailoring that has been center stage. Take a simple two-button jacket in a floral printed deadstock fabric Beatty sourced in Portugal: It was a modern version of a New Look–style jacket, with its cinched waist and slight flared volume that ended right at the hips. Worn with a pair of jeans with two rectangular pieces of the same floral fabric appliquéd down the front of the legs, it became the Rentrayage version of a power suit.
“The collection came together during the smoky days of New York City,” the designer said, referring to the few days earlier this year where the city was covered in a cloud of orange smoke from the Canadian wildfires. “I was like, ‘Is this what it looks like as we head into the apocalypse?’ And then I thought, ‘Well, what do you want to wear?’”
