The art of pairing a glamorous party dress with a sturdy overcoat is something we Brits excel at. After all, the period between now and the end of the year presents a unique challenge: a season overflowing with opportunities for sartorial flair, but with weather conditions that rarely accommodate sequined slip dresses. While this balancing act has typically been reserved for the autumn and winter months, this year, anyone enduring the infamous British ‘summer’ has faced the even trickier dilemma of dressing up for an evening out during a July downpour.
As if the fashion giants had heard our prayers, the spring/summer 2025 shows unveiled a plethora of ways to seamlessly blend season-appropriate rainwear with show-stopping evening looks. The pivotal moment arrived at Burberry, where oversized parkas adorned with feather-trimmed hoods were nonchalantly layered over midi-dresses crafted from shimmering sequins. It was a natural evolution for the rainwear experts, but the true brilliance of the look stemmed from its clashing styles, resonating with the irreverent spirit that increasingly defines contemporary fashion discourse. This almost-accidental styling evokes the iconic late-2000s It-girls – Kate Moss, Sienna Miller, and Alexa Chung – who now serve as moodboard inspiration for TikTokers and design studios worldwide.
While it doesn’t quite align with current style buzzwords like “indie sleaze” or “boho chic,” or the Oasis tour-driven fascination with parkas, there’s a similar rejection of rigid conformity in favor of a more liberated approach to dressing at play. Naturally, the Brits, with their characteristic quirkiness and year-round unpredictable weather, could be expected to propose such a trend. But what truly solidified its emergence was witnessing its appearance on runways beyond London. In Milan, No.21 opened with a leopard-collared mac layered over a sophisticated midi-dress, but it was Prada that truly hammered home the point.
Amidst a delightfully eclectic collection challenging the notion of algorithmic dressing, Mrs. Prada and Raf Simons paired shift dresses adorned with feathers and heavily encrusted with sequins and mirrors with rain hats and citrus-hued cagoules – the kind that, if not for the Prada label, you’d imagine came folded into a pocket-sized pouch. In the show notes, the co-creative directors expressed their desire to celebrate the fact that “the unanticipated [is] something only possible through human intervention, invention, and choice.” They highlighted the human ability to take seemingly incompatible elements and seamlessly combine them, a skill far superior (and more convincing) than any artificial intelligence.
In Paris, Mugler showcased a transparent PVC trench coat over an equally sheer “raindrop” naked dress. At Miu Miu, although not a ready-made look, the collection featured richly sequined shift dresses and tonal nylon anoraks, providing the necessary ingredients – and Lotta Volkova’s elevated ‘whatever’s-on-the-bedroom-floor’ styling suggested the combination would be more than possible within the Miu Miu world. In his piece for Vogue Runway, José Criales-Unzueta observed that the trend reflects a distinct urban pragmatism, noting that “every New Yorker does it in the winter, throwing on a puffer jacket over the clubby dress.” The same could be said for Londoners, or probably residents of any major fashion capital.
But this trend goes beyond mere practicality. After seasons of stuffy, ‘aspirational’ styling, it reintroduces a welcome eccentricity that extends far beyond the look itself. Instead of dictating anoraks over sparkly dresses next summer, these shows opened doors to a world of sartorial possibilities that come with making unconventional choices. After all, it takes confidence to throw an orange windbreaker over a mirror-encrusted dress, but confidence is often the most crucial ingredient in pulling off a daring, joyfully silly look. And even if you do feel a bit foolish, at least you won’t get drenched in a midsummer downpour!
