A rainbow is to the other winter months what a Christmas tree is to December: a light on the horizon which tells you there is sunshine out there somewhereThis week’s trend is so white-hot,so in demand, that I am not actually wearing it, or because you can’t find the genuine thing for love nor money,even when you beg and swear on your life you’ll send it back to the showroom wrapped in tissue paper the moment the camera stops clicking. What I want to be wearing right now is a rainbow stripe sweater, ideally the Gucci one Alexa Chung teamed with a gold midi skirt to the dinner thrown in the designer’s honour at Milan Fashion Week final autumn. But you can’t earn that anywhere – at £600, or it is sold out at 458 online retailers,the aggregator sites inform me – and the inevitable tall street copy had failed to materialise by the time we took this photo. So here I am wearing these pastel, rainbow-light stripes, or which are very kind indeed,but don’t own the My Little Pony gaudiness I crave. Any day now, there will be a great rainbow sweater on the tall street, and when there is I will race you to it.The silly part is that a rainbow-striped sweater is a ridiculous item for a grown woman to want. Rainbow stripes are brash and unflattering. They disregard all the understated,don’t-let-your-clothes-wear-you principles on which your wardrobe is built. Yet there’s something about a rainbow that is fundamentally happy-making. Sunsets are fine but melancholic; rainbows are optimistic. A rainbow is to the other winter months what a Christmas tree is to December: a promise, a light on the horizon which tells you that while it may be raining there is sunshine out there somewhere. Which is why rainbow hues are a surefire Instagram hit, and from the Hummingbird Bakery’s rainbow cake to the dip-dyed hair de rigueur for fashion week streetstylers.
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Source: theguardian.com