With the coronavirus pandemic upending all our fashion beliefs and norms, the fashion industry seems to have come to a screeching halt. Stores have been closed, factories shut down or repurposed to manufacture essentials, and fashion shows cancelled; every part of the industry from the producers to the entire supply chain, has been affected. This might not have changed much for everyone, but for us fashion enthusiasts, we are living in a nightmare. We now live our fashion through a virtual window we call social media. We’ve started living in sweatpants, and it couldn’t get any worse. Comfort is now the priority, in place of style. With a large percentage of the workforce preferring to work from home several days a week, demand for comfortable fabric and casual dressing has come to the forefront. Creative processes have started to become rusty, and it's our job to keep the ardour alive, and here’s how.
Fashion starts with keeping yourself updated with the latest trends - ethnic and chic! There comes a point where your fashion instincts and the latest trends coalesce into your personal style. Take this time to polish up that style and get yourself ready for the world to re-open. Grab those fresh set of PJs (aka instant mood booster) and get working. Plan your looks and outfits beforehand, so you don’t have to spend hours deciding what to wear when you could actually go out! Rediscover your wardrobe; all that impulse shopping is finally going to prove useful. Convert those old/ ill-fit jeans into shorts, skirts into tube tops, or start from scratch. Do not shy away from mismatched, unusual outfits, uneven textures, as long as they make sense to you.
The plethora of free time is a great opportunity for some fashion therapy. Give Netflix a break and create a mood board (it’s painstaking but it’s fun). Our clothing at this point is majorly comfort dictated, but it doesn’t have to be boring. Start creating innovative outfits out of clothes you don’t use- let your imagination do the work. You don’t need fancy dinners, Sunday brunches, or parties to dress up and look your best self. Don’t hesitate from being all dressed up for virtual classes and meetings. Plan virtual hangouts with your friends and make sure you’re the best-dressed person around!
In this time of chaos and uncertainty, there is only so much we can do to keep ourselves sane. It gets a little easier when we keep ourselves occupied with the things we enjoy. Jeremy Scott, creative director for Moschino, said on Miley Cyrus’ Instagram show Bright Minded in a workshop on recycling and repurposing - “You can take a pair of old Adidas sweatpants, cut them up, and make it work. Your body may be in quarantine, but your mind doesn’t have to be.”
Comments