If you see a green dinosaur walking in the street, you definitely saw it wrong because it may just be a person wearing a Dryrobe — a $217 ankle-length, waterproof robe for surfers that is currently taking over the high streets!
The fashion industry has seen the rise in popularity of the changing robe, as noted in this article over at The Guardian. Dryrobes were described as “the must-have, all-season coat” by Grazia magazine and “comically oversized Balenciaga coats” by Amy de Klerk, digital fashion editor at Harper’s Bazaar. In November 2020, the specialty surfing robe became the subject of a culture tiff, as laminated signs appeared on a lamppost in Sandycove, Ireland that says “No Dryrobe or Dryrobe types!!!” and in Blackrock indicating, “beware of Dryrobe wankers”.
When Dryrobe gained popularity, it became a fashion statement and a symbol of gentrification. Christopher Sloman, a 48-year-old charity shop worker who made an Instagram account documenting Dryrobes where they were not designed to be, says “The people who tend to wear them are the ones who came down [to Brighton] from London and exchanged flats for big houses here.”
Many people think that most of those who wear Dryrobes are just bragging. Even a Facebook group with 478 members has been created to lament “people using a Dryrobe for anything else other than its intended purpose”. According to Sloman, the only problem is that “Dryrobe has become more than what it’s used for”.
Image credit: Serena Brown