NYFW – Rentrayage FW22

For Rentrayage’s Autumn Winter 2022 Collection imagery, founder and designer Erin Beatty chose to collaborate with photographer Djeneba Aduayom and violinist and singer Sudan Archives and the violinist’s twin sister, Cat Parks, a yoga instructor, musician and community organizer.

Photographed in sunny Los Angeles by photographer Djeneba Aduayom, Beatty and Aduayom chose Sudan Archives and her twin sister Cat for their beauty, authenticity and accomplishments.  They are talented examples of real women who wear real clothing designed to be worn in real life. Rentrayage’s clothing is itself created from real vintage garments, highlighting the beauty of our past creations. Real life is at the heart of Rentrayage — crafting pieces that can be cherished for their past and future authenticity and for their sophistication rooted in reality.

Inspired by the carelessness of the ‘90s and its stark contrast to today, Beatty created a collection of highs and lows. Lace and metallics combined with vintage denim. Oversized silhouettes bound by external corsets and belts express both freedom and restriction – a struggle that feels like a reference to the past, a reflection of current events and somehow futuristic all at once.

Both talented musicians, the Parks sisters draw upon a vast array of music to create radically new sounds. Aduayom brought her background in dance and interior design into the photography, encouraging the twins to move fluidly throughout the space while architecting specific compositions that evoke formal portraiture.  These images also mark the first time the twins are shot together professionally, further knitting together our connections to and within each other.

Beatty’s trip to textile mills in Florence, Italy last year expanded Rentrayage’s access to retired fabrics, elevating this collection with textiles that replace the frugality that is so often associated with vintage clothing with a sumptuousness and modernism that remains the hallmark of luxury fashion. Textile waste is an oft unexplored and misunderstood part of the fashion industry and a garment’s life cycle: there is an enormous amount of fabric that is produced and discarded, languishing in warehouses, much of which will end up in landfills. Beatty aims to save this fabric and turn it into something exquisite – creating a real sense of desire around retired textiles.

Recycled cashmere also enters the collection, in knit sweaters and balaclavas produced from yarns that Beatty found could be recycled in a truly sustainable way. The focus on details at the neck and waist in this collection are a physical reminder to come back to the body, to reinforce our humanity and corporeal form. With fully constructed hidden corsets and shirring to create volume in unexpected places, Beatty wanted to offer solutions to the customer in 2022 on the complex quest for modernity, wearability and sustainability.

Rentrayage is a meditation on how to create fashion that feels fresh and wearable while being also kind to the environment – how we can reduce our impact while celebrating life as we live it.