“How can you be angry on a night in July, and be warm with me when it’s freezing outside?” the ever-pensive Drake once wondered on his sleepy 2018 track “Summer Games.” On a recent afternoon in July, Champagne Papi succumbed to this contradiction and dressed as though it was freezing outside—or at least as though he was on track to spend most of his day in some heavy-duty air-conditioning.
Despite the swampy New York City heat this week, Drake was bundled up leaving the upscale Mark Hotel on Manhattan’s Upper East Side (a popular locale for celebrities getting ready for the Met Gala) while he was in town to perform seven sold-out shows at Barclays Center and Madison Square Garden. The proud Canuck wore a Molson Canadian mesh softball jersey with some roomy gray sweatpants and platform-soled, shearling-covered Loewe boots—which sort of look like a pair of Uggs turned inside out. In his hand, he was clutching what appears to be a Chanel dust bag.
Drake isn’t the first to wear the furry Loewe stompers in warmer weather. Last summer, A$AP Rocky paired them with a shearling zip-up while out in Los Angeles, not long after he wore them with plaid shorts and a letterman jacket to perform at a party with New York City mayor Eric Adams. Indeed, wearing warm, cozy, or otherwise wintry garments in the dead of summer has become something of a famous-person pastime.
There are plenty of ways to beat the summer heat: Submerge yourself in a body of water. Hold an ice cube to the back of your neck. Plop yourself down in front of an air conditioner. Hydrate mercilessly. But if you happen to be incredibly rich and/or famous, dealing with the weather becomes something of a voluntary situation—not only do you not really need to beat the heat (because you can afford to keep the AC blasting), you can lean into it. If you’re Justin Bieber, you can wear a fur coat in the middle of August. If you’re Drake or A$AP, you can wear furry boots no matter what the thermometer reads. If you haven’t made a Billboard-topping album or have a bank account Scrooge McDuck would envy, however, maybe just stick to shorts and sandals.
