The future of fashion is something that is changing more now than ever. This quarantine has finally given the fashion industry the break that it needed. For once, the fashion industry is not just in the cycle of mass producing celebrity’s clothing and we are actually focusing on being sustainable by getting rid of the stockpiles of previous garments. The fashion industry is in a constant state of trying to predict the future and staying on top of the newest things before they become old news. Humans have a significant impact on mass consumption, the environment, other people’s well-being. It took a whole pandemic for us to take a step back and realize how we were really living our lives. With this major halt in my life, I’m going to be honest, I finally realized I buy too much clothes. Not being able to just spend my time thrifting or going to the mall, I noticed exactly how much unnecessary consumption I am doing in my life. **I’m currently doing a massive closet cleanout on my Depop right now, just saying** I am one who loves to stay on trend and am always on the hunt to inspire new trends, but I finally stopped caring about my everyday fashion and started focusing more on the big picture. If we all were to consume less fast fashion, then we would all give people the opportunity to make more unique clothing that takes intricate detail and therefore workers can be paid adequately for their valuable time versus how many crop tops they can produce in an hour.
As a digital retail major, I noticed how this whole situation has put the world under anti-virus lockdown and how retailers quickly shifted towards adapting to this new lifestyle. Masks and protective wear have become an increasingly popular demand and retailers have been taking advantage of people’s fears. I have seen a decline in new hand bags being released, but a skyrocketing introduction of designer face masks and even hand sanitizer. All of the basic necessities that we used to take advantage of are what people are trying to preserve the most. Frankly, the fashion industry is a bunch of selfish people with lots of different ideas all trying to be recognized as being original. I am amazed by how fast this industry is able to adapt to any obstacle that the world faces. A major trend we will definitely see in this year’s fashion week is the emphasis on digitalization and how technology has in a way saved our sanity. Technology was already a concept that has been manipulated with in the fashion industry but soon enough, we will see trends that we never thought were possible. When I was in New York, I visited the Artechhouse and that was one of the coolest things I have experienced. It was just a plain, white room with small projectors everywhere that illuminated the room with uniquely created digital designs that changed the room’s atmosphere and mood. I recently watched a fashion show that was inspired by a digital background like that and it was the coolest thing. In the future this will help minimize the waste of huge fashion show productions because this is an advanced way to engage your audience with the designer’s true vison. There have also been a few designers who had their shows planned out to be during this time, so it was a unique perspective to see designers twist their visions to be a completely virtual show.
We can expect a huge, massive change in the way we used to view the fashion industry. Clothing will be made in a more thoughtful way and will take in consideration the potential actions of the future. In other words, articles of clothing will be more durable and made for multipurpose jobs instead of how we view it now as a one-time wear garment. This ideal came from the fact that we waste so much clothing and have grown to have this mentality of something being useless after you’ve been seen in it. One thing that has always bothered me and I genuinely do not understand why this is such a popular trend, but buying clothes that already look worn and dirty?? Golden Goose sneakers, someone explain to me why you are paying $500 plus dollars for brand new shoes that look like they are about to fall apart. Celebrities and fashion influences have the money to buy stuff like this and have no concern to how many times they actually wear it. Someone like me though, a college fashionista, wants to spend money on a luxury items that will be a classic and something that I don’t plan to wear just once. After being inside for so long and not cycling through my entire wardrobe, I’m predicting that we will see an increase in more basic necessity clothing made from textiles that are meant to last for a while and there will be an increase in the type of care designers put into the little details of their garments to last such as the back of the collar or the belt loops of your jeans.
Major changes in the typical cycle of fashion have been massively impacted by this virus. Italian Vogue has had a blank cover for the first time in over 100 years. This is a huge deal because you always think about magazine cover girls and to be honest with the number of magazines I read, I never focus on the cover girl and I always forget. However, the impact of having no one headline an issue is much more memorable than anyone’s face. I think would be such a cool trend to start having coverless magazine and just focusing on the main message they are trying to convey instead of being drowned in a clouded haze of celebrity faces. I read an article about Bella Hadid still working from home, it explained how she was taking pictures of herself on her phone to be published in major editorials. Her stylists were virtually picking out her clothes and she was shooting herself and it really made me think about how we are really self-absorbed and constantly trying to share everything about our lives, but the reality of it is, who cares??
This self-isolation period has led to much needed time for humanity to self-reflect on their actions and has helped everyone prioritize what’s really important in the world. After having everything that is unessential stripped away in our lives, we all understand that can survive without all the extra added glamor of our society. This virus has really humanized us because no one is immune, despite being a celebrity or a homeless person, we are all equal humans and should be treated the same in life. I don’t want to start a whole rant on human equality, but I just want our society to recognize the fact that deep down we are all living on the same planet, breathing the same air.
Allison C Dibble 