COVID-19's Effect on Fashion and Style
By Amanda Giroux
Photo by @prept_ on Instagram
Virtual. Over-the-phone. At home.
These are familiar terms for everyone living through the pandemic. Everything is done at home now online— jobs, interviews, meetings, hangouts, introductions, and more. Even creativity, such as fashion, has moved homeward. Since the start of quarantine, I, like everyone else, sit at home, surrounded by laptops and screens, to get work done and entertain myself as time slowly rolls forward. While lounging at home all day, it is ideal to be comfortable. With the lack of outdoor activity for many, what does that mean for fashion in today’s world, exactly?
When the going gets tough, the tough go shopping, as the adage goes.
And there is some truth to that phrase as it helps explain one of my favorite ways to boost serotonin: retail therapy. I worked in retail, and many retail stores temporarily closed in March of 2020. However, online sales were still open. During quarantine, I purchased many clothes online with no place to wear them. It brought a smile to my face each time a package was dropped off on my doorstep. Buying clothes has brought me comfort and pleasure in a time when comfort and pleasure were not easy to find.
Later in 2020, retail stores began to open back up, including the company I worked for, Old Navy. They implemented a new marketing tactic to move the athletic apparel from the middle of the store to the front of the store. This was due to the fact that many people were purchasing these clothes to be more comfortable at home. Athleisure, defined by Google, is casual, comfortable clothing that can be worn for exercise or everyday wear. Athleisure, as well, has recently become a common clothing trend, and with COVID-19 quarantine, this trend skyrocketed. With customers buying more and more athleisure apparel, there is a lot of cozy, informal dressing at home.
When public places began to reopen, I found myself excited to put on a pair of jeans. Typically, I feel the opposite way: relieved to be able to remove my jeans at the end of a long day. It was enjoyable to have the opportunity to finally wear nice clothing. I even found that some of my friends were dressing up merely to go grocery shopping because they had no place else to wear their nice clothes. Dressing up, even just a little, makes me feel more accomplished and more motivated in my endeavors.
Staying at home during the coronavirus outbreak has affected fashion as we all know it, giving way to a more casual style for millions of people. But it has also given people a new passion for buying clothes— in-person and online. People noticeably dress up more when going out, taking advantage of the opportunity to do so. Who knows what will happen to style when the pandemic officially comes to a close?
