How the Pandemic Affected Fashion in 2020
Fashion matters: it affects the economy, society and the individual. Fashion can also be a direct reflection of what’s happening in the world. Without a doubt, Covid-19 has had (and still has) a drastic impact on society and therefore on fashion.
Some of the most memorable trends during quarantine would of course include the craze for baking banana bread, tie-dying old clothes and picking up random hobbies to pass the time. Most people (including me) spent the majority of quarantine in loungewear and PJs and probably didn’t feel the most fashionable. Despite this, our actions and influences quietly and slowly began to affect fashion.
I recently watched a video from a fashion content creator on her take of 2020’s impact on the fashion industry. After hearing her thoughts, I came away with three major changes:
A decline in in-person shopping
The influence of Tik Tok
A revival of 60s and 70s
Check out Madison’s video on her analysis of how the fashion industry was changed in 2020
[Online] Retail Therapy
After the pandemic hit, it was unsurprising to see a decline in brick-and-mortar retail shopping. People were forced to lessen their in-person shopping experience or turn completely towards shopping online.
36% of consumers now shop online weekly, an increase from 28% before the pandemic. (Forbes)
Globally, 49% of consumers shop online more now than they did pre-Covid-19. (Forbes)
However…
91% of shoppers say they miss shopping in stores. (Forbes)
Similar to the attitude towards the seemingly dying movie-theater experience, there will always be a desire to shop in-person. However, the pandemic has now encouraged buyers to purchase online - myself included. I had always refused to buy online due to preferring trying on in person and the convenience of immediately having the clothes. I eventually gave in and now it seems like I’m placing online orders once a week!!
The Tik Tok Effect
An interesting point from Madison was her take on the influence of Tik Tok on fashion, especially during Covid. She touches upon the level of comfort users feel on the app and the encouraged ability to experiment with fashion styles. The content creator explains how users can experiment with their style and be met with encouragement and hype from complete strangers. There’s no going into school or work and facing the possible embarrassment from a peer over experimentation.
Trends also become easily viral and shared through the short video platform whose algorithm permits any user to blow up. As Madison words it, power is taken from established influencers and is now distributed to anyone which makes the platform more enticing and engaging in addition to its ability to create several instant trends. Moreover, several users were originally enticed by the video creating platform as a result of quarantine boredom therefore finding a way to stay engaged and creative leading to the accelerated spread of trends. According to official statistics from July 2020, the valued $50 billion company has over 689 million TikTok users around the world (monthly active users)!
@madisonxwild Day 24 of 30 days of outfits🕊🧊🦢🌊 double hooped up on a Friday afternoon #myoutfitchallenge #fashiontok #styleinspo
♬ Paper Planes - M.I.A.
One of Madison’s viral videos! A fashion Tik Tok trend that she started
History Repeats Itself: A Funky Revival
History has a habit of repeating itself. The fashion of the 60s and 70s was decorated by bold colors and funky patterns inspired by the free-spirited hippie culture and activist movements. During difficult times of death and hardships, we tend to gravitate towards more color and looser silhouettes and textures as a visible way of letting loose and taking life less seriously. After endless days of sweat suits and pajamas in quarantine, everyone is more than ready to find an excuse to overly dress up and escape. It even became a Tik Tok trend to dress up just to go to the grocery store!!
@sarahbelleelizabeth Dressing up for the grocery store, ya know 🙃🤣😬 outfits are all @revolve and song of style #revolveme #revolvewinter #ootd #fyp
♬ original sound - Lorena Pages
A Tik Tok trend expressing the desire to dress up for the grocery store
Here are some 60’s and 70’s trends that have returned during 2020!
The pandemic hitting in 2020 is truly reminiscent of the influenza of 1918 and the Roaring 20’s which followed shortly after recovery. Isolation, sickness and death made people crave human interactions and any excuse to dress up and party. With the rollout of vaccines, we can hopefully start returning to normal life and perhaps have our very own Roaring 20s.
Without a doubt, fashion and its trends are a direct reflection of what’s happening in the world!
Thank you so much for reading! Let me know in the comments which current fashion trend is your favorite!
Also, huge shoutout to @kiana_ting_ for this blog post idea!
Make sure to be following me on Insta where I post my fashion and lifestyle faves: