UNDER A CLOUD
FORGET CHASING THE RAINBOW. THIS MONTH, IT’S ALL ABOUT REVELLING IN THE RAIN
IS IT TIME FOR US TO RETHINK RAIN? As we enter winter’s final gasp, when grey, wet weather has become the norm, fashion and culture are giving us new reasons to consider the delight of some good old drizzle.
Wet weather might have been the unwelcome ‘plus one’ on the front rows at Ferragamo, Givenchy and Jil Sander during SS23 Milan and Paris Fashion Weeks (models and guests were seen ducking for cover under umbrellas amid rainstorms), but it soon emerged as the surprising star of the catwalk season: at Alexander McQueen, the Chilean architect Smiljan Radić created a transparent, cloud-like bubble in London’s Tobacco Dock.
Getting drenched is now the intention, rather than accidental, in beauty too, with the SS23 backstage awash (pun intended) with damply tousled and smoothed hair, from hair stylist Adam Reed’s ‘city slick’ style for Erdem to Sam McKnight’s gelled finger waves at Richard Quinn and ‘wet silhouettes’ at Balmain.
And whereas the mere sight of rain would once have sent culture vultures scarpering, it has now become a protagonist in some of London’s most prominent exhibitions – whether that be Masatoshi Izumi’s Night Rain II sculpture at Frieze Masters or the stage designer Es Devlin’s rain curtain at the National Theatre for Arthur Miller’s play The Crucible.
Still not convinced of rain’s new rep? See Taylor Swift’s Midnight Rain, which left internet conspiracy theorists searching for subtext in a downpour. Or the Calm app’s newly expanded, and incredibly popular, ‘rain’ sounds, which span everything from ‘rain on tent’ to ‘rainy Paris night’. Meanwhile, the author Matt Haig, in a much-shared post, revealed that stepping out into a storm reminded him of the ‘euphoria of being alive’. Consider that next time you check your weather app.