Evening wear in the age of global warming

At wet, chilly Garsington last night I saw a spectacular production of Ariadne auf Naxos. Strauss’s wonderful finale was all the more uplifting for the triumph it represented on the part of cast and crew, all partially exposed to the elements, over prolonged downpours in the second half.

Before, after and during the so-called picnic interval, I watched the elegant audience stagger through the muddy parking fields and across lethally slippery grass slopes, some discreetly wearing galoshes or wellies under evening dress, others resigned to ruining decent shoes and risking humiliating falls.

If it’s going to rain on our summer festivities like this on a regular basis, we need a footwear entrepreneur to come up with the Climate Change Loafer ¬ black, shiny, tasselled and wipe-clean on top; thick, rubberised and treaded like a tractor tyre underneath. A Goretex dinner jacket might help too.