It’s that 6:30 a.m. routine again. You struggle to get off the bed because the sound of raindrops from outside is casting a forbidden spell called “laziness” upon your virtue. Without hesitation, you decide to wear a sweater to keep yourself warm on your way to school.
After an hour-and-a-half long discussion in an air-conditioned classroom, you leave your boredom inside and hurry out the door. Your mind was set to hear the music of the rain’s soothing, neutral hum. You are vying to once again bask in the cold, icy amihan breeze that just happened to pass over the city after about three months of scorching summer heat. You clutch your extra handkerchief, thinking that it’s better to catch a cold than to constantly complain about the heat while walking to the next class. It was going to be a dull, rainy day, and you are more than willing for it to stay that way — only to find yourself stepping into a gigantic oven full of humid air that seeps through your clothing. To make matters worse, you’re wearing a sweater.
The sweater indeed lives up to its name. Drenched in sweat, you spend the rest of your day wishing you had worn just a simple t-shirt to school. Umasa ka nanaman.
If there’s one thing to learn from the past years when it comes to weather in the Philippines, it’s that it’s unpredictable. Living in this country, you might have had a day in school struggling much like in the story above.
With that, brace yourself! Win…err…the rainy season is coming! Say goodbye to the warm, sunny days of July—or not. As we step on to the last month before the “ber-months” take over, and as the weather gets more stubborn by the minute, do you have what it takes to dress sharp and nail rain-or-shine good looks?
For Christian “CD” Sagun, a Sillimanian fashion blogger, “Layering is everything” in the rainy season.
According to him, lightweight and sturdy nylon rain jackets may protect you from the rain over what you usually wear.
“Don’t even think about wearing your nice sneakers [because] they’ll just get really dirty,” he added. He advised that when all else fails, you should always keep an emergency umbrella in your bag.
Most importantly, he pointed out that the rainy season is synonymous to dullness and monotony. The solution? According to CD, a simple “pop of color” in your get-up would suffice.
What if the weather goes bi-polar? Silliman University alumna and blogger Mariana Varela said, “You can compromise in different ways.”
She prefers olive coats or denim jackets to rock a chill vibe on a rainy day. According to her, wearing white jeans would not be quite a great idea as they might get soiled.
Like CD, she also advised that wearing something underneath a hoodie is the best way to cope with the stubborn weather. Just wear it when it’s rainy, remove it when it’s not.
It takes a keen perspective for a person to appreciate fashion. At the end of the day, always keep in mind that fashion is an art, and how you dress is an expression of your feelings, thoughts, and advocacies. As CD said, “It’s never easy to openly express yourself through fashion. You have to know when to break the boundaries, when to flaunt it, and when to keep it to yourself. Be yourself. That’s really just it.”
Regardless of society’s standards, don’t ever be ashamed of the clothes you wear. It’s your personal freedom to choose. In fashion, no piece of clothing is ever “indecent.” Mariana even said, “Decency doesn’t come with the clothes you wear, decency is within you.”
Let the “sweater weather” be an opportunity! Be creative with your apparel and maximize your wardrobe. Trust your fashion sense and be confident. Most of all, make it a point to feel as comfortable as possible with what you wear. In Biology, there is a saying, “form fits function.” It dictates that an object or organism is designed in such a way that the appearance of its parts fits its main use. Dressing up caters to this idea. Wearing clothes with the purpose of not only to protect one’s self, but also to look and feel good amid the country’s untamable weather, may very well be a reflection of that principle.
