On the Thought-provoking of a Cloud Print

With the recent resurgence of 2000s trends more broadly, the print is now everywhere and on everyone. Perhaps emulating Gen Z,  there is no upper age limit for oversized cloud jumpers reminiscent of Sanrio. Even designers like Stella McCartney, Alice and Olivia, and Selkie have recently put out a range of garments that feature clouds.

Sophie Strauss, a "stylist for regular people” who lives in Los Angeles, says she’s been seeing more and more clients gravitate toward the color blue, which is having a moment, along with techniques like tie-dye and shibori that can create a cloud-like pattern. She also thinks clouds are appealing because, despite an association with childhood, they’re anything but one-dimensional.

“Working with clients, something that comes up a lot is people struggling with feeling like their clothes project a one-noteness about them,” Strauss says, pointing out that clouds, while commonly associated with the divine, tend to appear on sexier cuts. The people she dresses are “often drawn to garments that have a little complexity to them, that make them feel layered and dimensional. The push and pull feels truer to us as complicated people who, you know, contain multitudes!"

Photo:selkiecollection.com

A British website called Cloud Appreciation Society was founded in January 2005, which is older than most startups. The main business of the website is to attract members to share clouds captured in life and everything about clouds, such as mountain fog, lightning, tornadoes...They’re naturally soothing, ever-changing, and living art.

The allure of the cloud has always been strong, but today the cloud itself has become more fragile. Global humor means our skies are getting fewer and fewer clouds, even though we may live in a world without them at all.The Cloud Appreciation Society believes that clouds are unfairly maligned, which is a shame, as we’ve never needed clouds—or the experience of gazing up at them—so badly.

Photo:www.aliceandolivia.com

last time most of us got to hang out in the grass and make shapes out of the clouds? At a time where we’re all overworked, stuck inside on computers and phones,” Strauss observes. “If we’re not going to be afforded the time to go look at the clouds outside, it’s nice to look down and at least see them on your pants.” Clouds were always for the dreamers, and as future generations stare up at the sky—or down at their trousers—and dream of a different future, that’s never been more true.