How COVID Has Changed the Way We Dress

COVID-19 has changed our lives in many ways. One of the most noticeable changes we may not have anticipated at the start of the outbreak is in how we dress. When we were told to work from home and then to shelter-in-place, we adopted a new dress code – what I affectionately call “comfortable fashion.” We said goodbye to our high heels and bras and hello to all things comfy. Lounge wear became the norm, sweatpants came back in style, and pajamas were worn night AND day.

Our everyday style radically changed. But will the fashion changes we made during the coronavirus quarantine be permanent, or will we go back to dressing up daily? Fashion historians have indicated four ways COVID will change the way we dress.

We Care Way More About Our Tops

As we entered the world of working remotely, we quickly embraced the “business mullet” - formal up top, party down below. We took care to wear a nice blouse and do our hair and make-up, but we were rocking leggings down below.

The Charlotte Observer reports, “Based on data from 80 of the top 100 retailers, Adobe Analytic found a 143% jump in pajama sales, a 13% drop in pants sales and a 12% decrease in the sale of bras this spring.” And Walmart reported a sharp increase in sales for tops with a decline in sales for bottoms.

In other words, our clothing shopping demonstrated our love of the business mullet. Now, it’s doubtful that we will wear this clothing back into our workplace, but we will likely still choose our tops and blouses with more care.

We Are Dressing Down for Work

Speaking of dressing for work, we are doing away with some of the gender-based clothing. For example, while we still find it important to look put together, we no longer feel the need to wear high heels, pencil skirts, or other uncomfortable female clothing.

As Allison Pfingst explains in InStyle, “While it is still advisable to look presentable from the chest up, no woman is putting on a thong or an underwire to attend a Zoom meeting. When we have to go back to the office, there’s a good chance it will no longer be in uncomfortable heels, or hard-to-tuck-in blouses. Expectations of impractical, uncomfortable work attire are floating away along with a feeling of obligation to appear ‘attractive’ at work in the MeToo era.”

We Are Buying More Secondhand Clothing

With most retail stores closed during statewide shelter-in-place orders, we started shopping online. Specifically, we started shopping at resale sites, like The Realreal, Poshmark, and ThredUp. And experts are expecting the resale market to explode! Get ready to embrace vintage fashions.

We Have A Renewed Desire to Dress Up for Special Occasions

Now before you try to resell all your high heels and designer dresses on one of these sites, you might want to think about how you want to dress when “all this” is over. Based on fashion history, we are likely to want to continue to dress up for special occasions. I don’t know about you, but I was thrilled to have an opportunity to wear shoes and high heels on our first family outing in three months. We might not dress up every day, but we will appreciate getting dressed up for the right occasion more than we ever did before.