EXCLUSIVE: Morgan Stewart McGraw Unveils Ready-to-wear Line, Renggli
Morgan Stewart McGraw has “perfected the modern work pant.”
That was the goal, she said, of the core item in her new brand Renggli: “I know it’s been done before, but I want to put a spin on it and make it my own.”
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They are inspired by vintage Carhartt jeans, which she often wears dressed up with heavily embellished jackets, but are “so vintage and just not as feminine as I would have liked them to be,” she said.
Her creation, also made of denim, is “really polished and really feminine. They have really beautiful lines. They’re so flattering. I feel like we went through seven different samples. And, I mean, just to focus on the crotch area, to be candid, literally took two months.”
She was approached by The Loyalist — a company that builds and invests in consumer brands — to create her own line. After helping design the trousers ($245), she focused on making four tops: a high-neck tank ($75), T-shirt ($85), oversized jacket ($295) and crewneck sweater ($285), all in the same color palette of yellow, black, white and brown.
“When I did the pants, I was like, ‘I’m going to create sweaters that match so that it’s an outfit’ — whether you want it to be or not is up to you,” she said. “It just has multipurpose, the whole line.”
Out Sept. 12 via direct-to-consumer, it plays into “quiet luxury” with its minimalist approach and focus on quality — though she started development a year-and-a-half ago, before the trend had a name.
“That’s been me my whole life,” she said of the style. “This sort of, like, quiet luxury and all of these things that everyone’s doing are just trying to have things that last…My core in my entire shopping history has been to have things that I can pull out four years from now. Half the things I have are stuff that stand the test of time so that it is an investment at the end of the day.”
Renggli denim is made in the same factory as Khaite, she noted, fabricated in the U.S. And the sweaters, coming from China, are in silk and cashmere.
“It just felt like the natural next step for me,” she said of launching Renggli, her mother’s maiden name. It’s a Swiss name that is also both her and her daughter’s middle names.
The 35-year-old TV personality, who has 2 million followers on Instagram, rose to fame on E! reality series “Rich Kids of Beverly Hills” when it premiered in 2014. She has since grown her personal brand in fashion, first unveiling Morgan Stewart Sport in 2016.
“I was like, ‘I want to do this,’” continued McGraw. “I want to pour my heart and soul into this line. And that’s how it came about. I was done making leggings. That’s the easiest way to put it. I was ready to make jeans.”
More collections will be unveiled in “a few months,” she said.
“I always wanted to venture out into ready-to-wear, because I’m obviously very into fashion,” she added. “And it’s something that I think about every single day…Whoever wants to be comfortable and well-dressed, this line is for them.”
She hopes for the brand to keep growing.
“Honestly, not to sound so cheesy but the sky’s the limit,” McGraw said. “I really want to hone in on this. I really want to continue to have the line evolve into different pieces, into different categories, all while continuing to make the quality number one and hopefully continue to grow into a massive brand that girls really rely on to make themselves feel better and look good.”
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