A look from Double Rainbouu’s ‘Synth UUave’ Resort 2019 collection

New Order’s Age of Consent was used to soundtrack the finale of tonight’s Double Rainbouu presentation at The Lansdowne Hotel, but it just as easily could’ve been Blue Monday.

It is still Monday, isn’t it? I ask entirely in jest, because if there’s one thing you hear more often than ‘How are you?‘ at Fashion Week it’s, ‘I’m so tired and it’s only Day 01‘ – the hyperbolic implication being that it’s rare you leave a show feeling more energised than when you arrived. Tonight, Double Rainbouu succeeded where many of their contemporaries seem content to settle, delivering an energising and often inexplicably hilarious presentation that was as thunderous in its deliverance as it was blithe in its refreshing disregard for the conventions of ‘good taste’.

The collection, dubbed Synth UUave, took its cues from both the idea of a ‘synthetic beach’ and the post-punk and New Wave musical predilections of its ex-Ksubi designers Toby Jones and Mikey Nolan. Thoughts of artificial landscapes like Kelly Slater’s open-barrel man made wave pool gave rise to the use of unabashedly synthetic textiles and, even when they were deployed on natural fibres, slogans and prints that spoke to an overriding concern with artifice. A black floral trompe-l’œil print was a particular standout, as were the ‘Poolside Wi-Fi’ and ‘Synthetic Leisure’ slogans plastered across tracksuits and knitwear alike.

Synth UUave sees the label expand its reach from rayon separates and merino knits that delight in lurid flamboyance to include unisex denim twinsets – a head-to-toe mustard look being a standout – as well as accessories in the form of a sunglasses collaboration with Le Specs and bulbous shoes produced in association with Globe. An esoteric cohort of stony-faced models walked at a blistering, sometimes ungainly, pace that never wavered from full-throttle even as they struggled to reconcile their speed with the sharp turns of a labyrinthine purple carpeted runway. Many toted fishnet or plastic bags bearing buoys; carabinas were affixed to belt loops; some models performed their furious schlep with a bucket or tackle box in hand. Those were later substituted for pizza boxes, courtesy of the Lansdowne kitchen, though they needn’t have bothered – Double Rainbouu already had the crowd (which included Joe Jonas and Shaun White) hook, line and sinker.

View the Double Rainbouu Synth UUave Resort 2019 collection in full HERE

Tile and cover image: Nicholas Carolan