RAINS’ FIRST PARIS FASHION SHOW TURNED SPACE INTO ART AT ICONIC CENTRE PALAIS DE TOKYO

9 feb 2022, for frame

Location

13 Av. du Président Wilson, 75116 Paris, France

Design

Jacob Egeberg

Brand

Rains

Music

Schakedelic

Site

Palais de Tokyo

The set for rainwear lifestyle brand Rains comprised a 14-m-long sculpted runway tunnel and 200 bespoke chairs designed by artist Jacob Egeberg.

Key features

Entitled We Come in Peace, the show kicked off with models parading down a 14-m-long grey tunnel. Built from interconnected, hand-sculpted blocks, this initial section of the runway was arranged to symbolize the sinuous movement of the Northern Lights. Rains and Egeberg were also inspired by Alvar Aalto’s signature Model 100 room-divider design for Artek. While these partitions looked to be made from wood – a material traditionally associated with Scandinavian design – they were in fact constructed from offcut, leftover Styrofoam elements. A special high-gloss finish reflected the show’s lighting design.

The tunnel’s endpoint marked the start of a new runway area, defined by white-lit boxes hung from the ceiling. Minimalistic and monochromatic, the overall show space was punctuated by 200 bespoke white chairs, each handcrafted in slightly different shapes. With a near-colourless palette, the room accentuated the vibrancy of Rains’ weatherproof fabrics, including pieces in acid green and baby pink. 

Frame's take

Well-known as a fashion-show venue in Paris, contemporary arts museum Palais de Tokyo often hosts Rick Owens, an icon in modern urban culture. For Rains, it was important to bring their own unique  brand of Scandinavian-cool to the space – Egeberg’s approach to the materiality communicates the ‘neo-Scandinavian’ aesthetic clearly. At the same time, it nods to the origins of the brand, which started with the mission to provide a contemporary reinterpretation of the classic rubber raincoat.  Each of the chairs will now find a new home in one of the Rains’ stores worldwide, tying the atmosphere of the Paris show with the label’s overarching retail design.