Rain on Me

>> I don't like rehasing posts in general but I trust that a good lot you might not have caught this going up on Glamour and with brooding clouds in the sky that have replaced scorching sunshine, looking set to the bring the sort of schizophrenic weather that I come to expect out of British summers, I thought this might be apt.  I'm also going to sound like I've been zipping around the world in speedy time as I rewind back to April when I went to Iceland for the Reykjavik Fashion Festival.  You'll find I'll be recalling trips over the summer as I attempt to rid my desktop to make way for S/S 12. 

The weather of Reykjavik in Iceland took the biscuit in unpredictability, where in one day, we experienced sun, snow, sleet, rain, clouds and winds heaped upon us in different doses, and you realised that even a constant stream of sunshine can't be taken for granted.  At RFF, we caught whiff of a brand that in essence could have been naff or perceived as such because they are solely inspired by this tempestuous Icelandic climate.  Rain Dear debuted with a collection of quirky waterproof coats that are a little bit more evolved than your average PVC pack-away-mac (a staple when I was growing up‚Ķ).  By bonding high grade plastic to materials such as wool, lace and silk, the textures that Rain Dear have created make these designs somewhat unique in the niche of rainwear.  The kitschness of the designs are offset by the quality that was perceived when we saw it up close.  

Our little press group of course had to try on a few of the pieces ourselves and the other nifty thing thing about them was that despite being made out of plastic, you didn't sweat inside because of the way they have been lined, a problem with some of my cheapo plastic macs. 

Fiona Byrne of Naag Magazine in what is an upgraded version of YSL's A/W 10-11 PVC cape (I hear the latter rips quite easily…)

Andrew Bevan of Teen Vogue, myself and Fiona doing jazz hands in Rain Dear's gear…

I was naturally drawn to the more luminescent colours in the collection given that I was wearing a fluorescent yellow Issey Miyake skirt and a printed Tsumori Chisato cardigan that day which made it easy for people-flagging should you get lost…

The pieces have still got a whiff of kitsch about it that you may or may not want in what is supposed to be a longlasting, sturdy rain mac (the Rain Dear designers claim their pieces are made with supreme quality in Italy by producers who create rain gear for big fashion houses) but I quite like the idea of marrying the throwaway/pack-away element of a 'novelty' rain mac with a more considered approach towards materials.  Given that I'm always left out in the rain, looking drenched and pathetic, because I refuse to take umbrellas (for fear of forgetting them…), I may as well go down the route of cartoonishly staying dry.