Designer Erin Beatty gives sustainable style a fresh new feel with her vintage-fabulous label Rentrayage.
A wrapped sleeve tiered dress from Rentrayage’s fall 2020 collection
Chicago fashion guru Ikram Goldman has long been a fan of Erin Beatty, former designer of Suno (“one of my favorite collections out of New York,” notes Goldman). The label is now defunct, but Beatty is back with Rentrayage. A sustainable line built on the philosophy of creating chic, wearable, one-of-a-kind garments while minimizing waste, Rentrayage (which means “mending” en français) emphasizes vintage fabrics that would otherwise be discarded.
Bow tie shirt, ribbed peplum top and ribbed paneled skirt
Goldman, for one, is delighted. “Erin was able to take all her years at Suno and her knowledge of what women love and implement it in this new, careful way,” Goldman notes. “She has a spirit that translates in the clothes without compromising what a great dress should look like or fit like.”
An asymmetric shoulder-tie dress
The line may be the opposite of couture—“which I still want,” Goldman insists, “even if it requires an enormous amount of fabric and over-the-top beading”—but that doesn’t take away from its functional beauty, or from the grand ideas it’s inspired by. “Designers like Erin are giving people a sense of hope and a window to look at fashion differently,” she says. “Couture gives her the ability to redirect fashion in a more conscious way through these exquisitely made, utilitarian everyday clothes.” Prices upon request, Ikram, 15 E. Huron St.
Photography by: Georgia Hilmer
