Anna Wintour in sweatpants, wind in the wardrobe and fashion shows without spectators and models - that's how the coronavirus changed the fashion world
The coronavirus, or rather the large-scale pandemic, has taken its toll on everyone's lives. Businesses around the world are facing a protracted crisis and the fashion world is certainly not immune. Not only has the production of clothing become significantly more difficult, but customer interest has also fallen. No wonder - we all spend most of our time at home. Data from consultancy firm McKinsey, as well as The Business of Fashion, clearly shows how fashion sales have plummeted worldwide. In fact, the pandemic has exacerbated the fashion industry's existing problems - i.e. the negative impact on the climate, poor working conditions in so-called third world countries, but also the inability to create an inclusive working environment. And while until recently the fashion world was a world of playfulness, imagination and creativity, last year changed the rules of the game.
Functionality and comfort above all else
At the beginning of last year, an Australian start-up company that made drapes caught the media's attention. Not because of the coronavirus, because back then, virtually no one had heard of it. The idea was to protect wearers from pollutants in polluted air. A few months later, however, it was the mufflers that became the most sought-after accessory in the world. Not a fashion accessory, but a health accessory. Although... Once everyone had recovered from the initial shock, of course the most logical way to stay up to date for many fashion companies was to produce stylish drapes. These matched outfits or appeared on the shelves (usually virtual ones) in sets with other accessories in the same design. But some companies went even further and focused on the production of drapes made of antimicrobial materials. Although antimicrobial materials have not been directly shown to be more protective against contracting covid-19, the tactic has worked in the fashion world.
Beyond the drapes, however, special attention in the clothing sector has been given to otherwise relatively overlooked pieces - those that fall into the category of "fashion" for home or leisure. The sweatpants trend was literally sealed by the legendary head of Vogue, Anna Wintour, when she shared a photo of herself in sweatpants on social media. And that's exactly how she captured the new need of basically every one of us, i.e. to replace the classic office clothes with something really comfortable, in which you can spend the whole day. After all, it was no different with shoes. The interest in patent half-boots or heeled pumps went significantly sideways. In fact, according to Lyst's annual report, which analysed the searches of more than 100 million online shoppers, the most searched-for items last year were Crocs, UGG slippers and Nike running shoes...
Zdroj: Giphy
Sustainability
As loud as one may complain about the coronavirus pandemic, it has probably changed some things for the better. If we were to be specific, the demand for local, handmade and sustainable clothing has increased significantly. In addition, various survey statistics suggest that people's thinking about fashion has also changed - simply put, shoppers have suddenly started to think about what they are buying and why. "The current situation has helped reduce waste in a way that goods have started to be produced only on demand, and our community of artisans and local suppliers has also been strengthened," says Nigerian designer Omoyemi Akerele, for example.
The digital fashion world
Even before the pandemic, the fashion world was also exploring the idea of digital fashion, that is, both digital models and outfits created ad hoc in graphics software. The whole concept seems very futuristic. And few would have imagined that the entire fashion world and its events would have to be digitised - because the classic Fashion Weeks could not be held in their standard form due to anti-epidemic measures, so there was no other option but to broadcast them to the audience online.
So while Burberry broadcast its show live from the forest during London Fashion Week, Moschino's creative director Jeremy Scott did without an audience and without models at Milan Fashion Week. When Congolese designer Anifa Mvuemba shared a 3D collection of her own designs on invisible models in May, it was clear that the world of fashion shows would never be the same again.
And perhaps even traditional shopping will never be the same again; it is quite possible that people will prefer to forgo physical experiences such as visiting a luxury store, but also flipping through a fashion magazine or attending a fashion show for the sake of their health. Indeed, much was already changing before the coronavirus, but the pandemic has, in a sense, hastened digitalisation. According to the aforementioned McKinsey report, we have jumped at least five years ahead in digitalisation in just a few months. This includes the shift of customers to the online sphere.
Change forever?
How quickly the fashion industry can recover is, of course, the question. The trends that have emerged in the past year are certainly not going to just disappear - on the contrary, according to some predictions, they may change the face of the fashion industry for good. However, it is fair to ask how 'bad' this transformation actually is. And perhaps the prospects for the (fashion) days of the future will not be as black as they seem. Well, they will almost certainly not be black, for as is evident in the fashion market in China, people seem suddenly to have stopped being afraid to experiment. Accordingly, most fashion brands are opting for cheerful and crazy colourful prints, so it's clear that at least in boring (sweatsuit) grey, fashion will definitely not last long...
