How and Why 2020 Has Changed The Fashion Industry

Due to the global pandemic, we’ve been through a lot this past year and it’s not over yet. Thankfully, we are starting to get vaccines, things are opening up, and we can see a dim light starting to shine at the end of this long dark ass tunnel we’ve been in. Through all the loss, heartbreak and terrible times, one thing has managed to become brighter, funkier and for me, has been the source of a lot of my happiness in the past year; fashion. This is not the first time in history that a dark era has led to exciting new fashion trends.

COVID

One unexpected fashion accessory in 2020/2021 has been face masks. That’s an obvious one right? COVID, I think is also the reason we’re witnessing a rebirth of extremely bright colors in fashion this year The zeitgeist for 2020 was darkness and despair. We spent a year in our sweatpants, PJ’s, on our best days, maybe matching loungewear. As as we start to see that light of the COVID tunnel, our spirits and our clothes are becoming lighter, brighter, and happier.

I personally was feeling lost, a bit isolated, and sad for a majority of quarantine, so I took it upon myself to brighten up my day with crazy color combos and pattern mixing to boost my mood. Now if you look at the hottest trend for 2021, it’s similar to the roaring 20’s when people celebrated the end of the war, and transformed their clothing from dark, drab, wartime gear to bright, fun party clothes. It’s the same thing in 2021, we’ve all been inside for such a long period of time, everyone wants to make an impression. Everyone is making up for those lost months by getting dressed up and celebrating life by bringing out all those that haven’t been needed – happy colored clothing, jewelry, handbags, hats, makeup, etc.

Models wear different multi-colored outfits on the runway

Isolation

Due to social distancing and quarantine, we weren’t directly being influenced or judged for what we wore. Everyone knew it was “makeup optional, hair-brush optional, bathing-optional”. I remember one time in high school, I wore a pair of flared jeans and a jean jacket, and I heard a lot of people shit talking my outfit. Because of that, I didn’t wear those flared jeans to school again. Quarantine has personally allowed me to stop caring what other people think about my wardrobe. Basing what I wear solely on whether or not I like it. That’s it! Period, end of discussion. While, of course, COVID didn’t change the fact we could still be influenced and/or judged on social media, I feel the topics were more about what’s trending and what celebrities you should follow for style tips rather than personal interactions boosting or hindering your style.

Here are some amazing confident queens to look up to:

TikTok

TikTok is a quick app. It grabs your attention instantly. Most videos are about fifteen seconds so you are constantly scrolling through the app. And it’s the easiest app, at the moment, to gain a following. TikTok is very different from other apps because with TikTok’s algorithm, you can basically pop up on anyone’s, “For You Page” and become discovered. I’ve discussed this a lot with TikTok influencers on my podcast. This instant fame can be both positive and negative of course. But as of now, it’s the hottest app currently. TikTok became so huge over quarantine because a lot of free-time + an attention grabbing app = something to do to pass the time. So a lot of our unexpected trends and crazy ideas, actually stemmed from TikTok.

Since it became such a big app over a time where you weren’t seeing a lot of people, people were less worried about being judged by others, and became more confident in their fashion and taking risks with their content.

And then, there’s the fact that we truly didn’t know any better. We’re watching people experiment with their style on TikTok but we weren’t seeing real people. So who knew what trends were really catching on and who was influencing them. Our world became a bit skewed. So as the world opens back up, and we pop our heads out of our caves with a brand new style, maybe we’ll all have gained the confidence to keep dressing for ourselves, and to keep taking risks, and to keep NOT caring about what others think.

The 60's and 70's

2020 and the 60’s/70’s have a lot of similar aspects. Not in fashion necessarily but in how the years/ decades went down. So if you are confused as to why 60’s and 70’s trends are so big currently, it’s because they are mere reflections of each other. Fashion is a reflection of the time period. Fashion is political. Fashion is psychological. And when you have decades that relate to each other, you are going through similar fashion trends as well. In 2020, the Black Lives Matter movement made the headlines constantly, as it should. In the 60’s, the Civil Right’s movement did the same. In 2020, it was the Me Too movement and in the 60’s, it was the Women’s Rights movement. Also, in the 2020s there was distrust towards the government much like in the 70’s.

Sustainability

Brick and mortar shopping went to shit this past year because most of the country was on lockdown at some point in the last year. Since people weren’t running to malls and buying outfits, they were going online and shopping strategically. The pandemic also gave people the time to sift through their closets and find what they really needed, and what they could give away.