Rain Boots’ Raucous Resurgence
Rain Boots: The Worst Trend Gracing Fashion
Zack Zens, Fashion Staff Writer
Ye and Julia Fox joined hand in hand, exuding an experimental aesthetic journey.
Marain, A. (2022, January 24). Kanye West and Julia Fox play up matching outfits. Vogue France.
Taking a break from Yeezy-mania, Ye, commonly known as Kanye West, has once again become the center of a new trend this season. There is little dispute that Ye has widely shaped and revolutionized the fashion community over the tenure of his career; nevertheless, some of Ye’s recent style genius has taken on an L.L. Bean galosh aesthetic rather than cutting-edge streetwear styles.
On top of Ye’s boot bemusement, collaborations between other major brands like Gap and Balenciaga have continued to propel his distinct aesthetic influence into the mainstream (Phelps, 2022). Indeed, Ye’s ex-muse, Julia Fox, has garnered wide intrigue for her bold eyeshadows and doting adherence to Ye’s fantastical exploration of colorlessness, material and cut (Testa, 2022).
Ye’s rain boot chic has taken the fashion world by storm as a forceful but niche trend, which is nothing short of horrendous. The adaptation and reinvention of unconventional items as fashion have tremendous value and potential, but some items are best left out of the fashion world.
The rain boot, or trucker boot, remains one of the least substantive and frankly hideous trends to take the fashion world by storm. Virtually impossible to match, Ye’s recent aesthetic convalescences on monochromatic black ensembles, accompanied by rain boots is prohibitively unstylish and dreary (Phelps, 2022); ultimately, this brutal color palette harkens back to the dim and dreary monoliths of the brutalist movement, at once seeking to find value outside of itself, yet paradoxically blighting the beauty of all around it.
Balenciaga has fully embraced this trend, debuting a new model of rain boot, which resembles a galosh and croc Frankenstein's Monster. Coming in a wide array of bright, almost phosphorescent colors, the boot is sure not to be missed by astronauts orbiting in space. This monster “Balenci-Croc” comes on the back of a fruitful partnership between Balenciaga and Crocs, seeking to reinvent the shoe as a high fashion currency (Moon, 2022). The rise of fashion collaboration has given birth to a new era of creative design and remains one of the most seismic shifts in the ethos of modern fashion. In no diminution to collaboration, the Balenciaga x Croc boot, a paltry $695.00 dollars, sits at the lower end of Balenciaga’s pricing structure but still far higher than its design and style value communicates (Moon, 2022).
In addition to the rain boots’ less-than-glamorous appearance and utter impracticality, the sheer height of a rain boot causes most pants to bunch up uncomfortably around the ankle, serving to generate a frumpy and bunchy hemline for the wearer. In addition to the likes of Ye, the humble rain boot has cropped up on the front rows of fashion weeks across the globe, from Copenhagen to New York, marking the unfortunate trend’s subtle but powerful permeation of the fashion world (Fass, 2022).
This proliferation, though, is likely short-lived and will soon go the way of the skinny jean and sequin top. While no one has the power to forecast the future, it remains a safe bet that the rain boot will fade in fashion memory almost as fast as it arrived.
Ye sporting that seven hundred dollar ‘Balenci-Corc.”
Moon, J. (2022, February 8). Kanye West Goes Monochrome in All-Black Outfit and Balenciaga x Crocs Boots. Footwear News.
Sources:
Fass, M. (2022, January 7). 5 Ways to Wear Winter Boots, According to Copenhagen’s Street Style Stars. Vogue.
Moon, J. (2022, February 8). Kanye West Goes Monochrome in All-Black Outfit and Balenciaga x Crocs Boots. Footwear News.
Phelps, N. (2022, January 7). Yeezy Gap Engineered by Balenciaga Begins. Vogue.
Testa, J. (2022, March 3). Julia Fox Will Come For You. The New York Times.