Ever catch yourself rushing back and mumbling, “oh snap!” to yourself as you head back to your house to grab the face mask you almost forgot to bring along? If the answer is yes, then we totally get you. Without a doubt, the pandemic has changed lives. The unexpected turn of events last 2020 made a gradual shift towards new trends, practices, and preferences. After all, the pandemic gave us a new sense of “normal”. 

Out with the Old and In with the New

When the pandemic began to first break out globally back in March 2020, lives were put on hold. Most countries, including the US, went into lockdown. People were asked to stay safe and stay at home. Major events were canceled like the NBA, the Tokyo Olympics 2020, and the Paris Fashion Week to name a few. For us regular folks, a lot of our events also had to be put on pause – proms, graduations, office parties, vacations, and staycations. From being a jet setter, most of our trips were just from the living room to the kitchen then back to the bedroom.

With almost everyone just staying at home, the big questions most fashion enthusiasts asked were, “What do I do with all my clothes?” and “What do I now wear?” We have to admit, at the start, we were all thrilled to be skipping the suits and leather shoes and exchanging them for the softest pair of sweatpants and t-shirt. Others ended up wearing mostly athletic wear and decided to get on with their fitness journey. Others decided to still dress up as if they are heading out just to boost their morale while staying in. Whichever category you fit in, we can say for sure that fashion and shopping behavior did a whole 180 during the pandemic.

Comfort Over Style (Or Both!)

Athleisure – When we were all confined in our apartments, it wouldn’t be a surprise that most of us decided to go for the comfiest outfits. In a matter of days in March 2020, daily office attire went from traditional work clothes to workout clothes or loungewear. With everyone working from home, people opted for athleisure as this was a great daytime look for Zoom meetings and transitioned nicely for evening Netflix sessions. Yoga pants and fleece are also perfect for those who would exercise straight after work.

The COVID-19 pandemic has given Americans a newfound love for comfort wear, which boosted a trend for wearing athleisure at almost every hour of the day. Sales of formal attire have gone down since the start of the pandemic, with everyone stuck at home and all events canceled. People opted prioritizing how they felt over how they looked. Simply put, comfort over style if they cannot have both.

Athleisure is really a strong preference for a lot of consumers according to J.P. Morgan’s survey on stimulus spending. The Wall Street Journal mentioned that 24 percent of the people surveyed chose athleisure as part of their top category where they intend to spend their stimulus checks. The U.S. athleisure market was valued at $155.2 billion in 2018 and is even expected to reach $257 billion by 2026 based on the study conducted by Allied Market Research, giving it a compounded growth of 6.7% from 2019 to 2026. A lot of growth has been projected to happen in the North American region. Nearly a lot of people mentioned that they prefer to choose their athleisure bottoms over denim jeans. After all, these athleisure pieces have become more and more acceptable as casual attire even before the pandemic. So, what more now that we are all attending our meetings from the comforts of our own homes?

Now that we all agree that comfort is key, we still want to look decent and presentable especially when we have those Zoom meetings or when going out for a quick essentials run. As much as couch potato becomes personified, looking good has been a coping mechanism for most people. This gave a lot of us a sense of the old normal or just a simple confidence boost.

Styling your athleisure pieces would not make you break a sweat! That’s how easy it can be. After all, most athleisure pieces usually come in sets or neutral colors that are versatile. Athleisure has always been rooted in comfort and practicality as well. This is why more and more pieces have emerged from innovative technologies that make them breathable, temperature regulating, sweat-ticking, and wrinkle-resistant.

Joggers

One of the main pieces for athleisure would be joggers. Joggers are the more stylish and cooler version of the sweatpants. Instead of the thicker material meant for sweating, joggers are made from a thinner material to keep the legs cool. They have a more fashionable silhouette and elastic tapered ankles. Originally, joggers were meant just for workouts, but thanks to the booming trends of athleisure, joggers have become a wardrobe staple. As long as they are worn and styled properly, joggers can look really sophisticated. 

Given the modern and open times, we have now in the 21st century, styling one’s self has become easier. A lot of clothing pieces are acceptably styled in many ways, including the joggers. They may not necessarily be for formal wear, but there are other different ways to enjoy this pair. Casual is the most common way to wear joggers. This is done by pairing them with a t-shirt or hoodie and completing the look with some sneakers. Recently, joggers have also made its way to the smart-casual territory by wearing them with a dress shirt or blazer.

Slow Fashion

With the pandemic leading to a closure of a lot of industries, fashion has slowed down in a way and has shifted to a new direction. With slower demand and use for clothes, the thought of going to more sustainable approaches to fashion has been growing even more. After all, the pandemic is not the best time to experiment with random and expensive fashion trends. Classics and basics are the go-to pieces for a lot of us. With a lot of Americans experiencing negative effects on their livelihood, most people were found spending less money on the “trendy” clothes that go out of style immediately. Instead, they invest in long-lasting and timeless pieces. Quality, craftsmanship, and functionality are the key elements of fashion during the pandemic.

Shoppers were also noticed to be paying more attention to sustainability and the environmental impacts of fashion’s waste. This will also continue to grow over the coming years as Gen Z and millennials are more conscious about sustainability. More people said that they were willing to shell out a bit more money if it meant the products were environment friendly. This is why a lot of small and big brands have come up with sustainable and capsule collections during the pandemic.

Back to Basics

Even with the world slowly opening up again, consumers are not exactly quick in filling up their shopping bags with flashy and overly trendy pieces. Plain shirts, athleisure, pants, and other closet staples are the ones filling up their carts. After all, these are the classic pieces that will surely be useful at all times. A lot of research has shown that even when people are back to the office, office wear will still be leaning towards the more casual side. This is done by putting together casual and formal pieces together, creating a harmony between the old office wear and the new normal.

With 25%-30% of the US workforce estimated to start working from home several days a week by the end of 2021, comfortable fabrics and casual attire will be the favorable trends as the new way of dressing up for work.

Menswear fashion has shifted trends to lightweight fabrics like linen, organic cotton, knitted polos, and short-sleeved shirts. A return to minimalism has been seen as well. When the 2008 Global Financial Crisis broke out, excessive trends and bold styles fell out of favor. Even pre-COVID, people were seen to be going for simpler and cleaner aesthetics.

How the Pandemic Changed Work Clothes

Workplace fashion has been moving towards casualization for some time now even before pre-pandemic. Now with the pandemic, that shift has been accelerated even gradually. Have you also attended a Zoom meeting perhaps wearing a dress shirt or blazer and even topped it off with a tie only to be wearing sweatpants or shorts as your bottoms and some comfy slides or fuzzy bedroom slippers as your footwear? Yup, we’ve all been guilty at some point.

Although a lot of mental health experts caution us about wearing the same clothes for lounging and working, it still became such a big trend for all of us working during the pandemic. If ever you do come back to the office, your work would most likely not require you to wear the same crisp and sharp suits you once did. After all, the time of a pandemic is the time for comfort and practicality. We’d all rather be safe and practical than stylish if we were to choose.

Dress Appropriately

Clothes and fashion have always played a part in our mood and overall feeling. We express ourselves through fashion. We dress a certain way because of our reasons. When we put on our suits, we know it’s time for work or a special event. When we put on a muscle tee and some sports shorts, we know it’s time to hit the gym. When we put on pajamas and a sweater, we know it’s time to relax and sleep. This is how clothes have also wired our brains into associating certain clothing pieces with a time or occasion. With the pandemic, this wiring has jumbled in different ways. We can now wear whatever we want because we are just at home.

Many experts still recommend that wearing appropriate clothes for the occasion is still the best approach. This is one of the ways to separate work and our personal lives. When we put on different sets of clothes, we also put on different versions of ourselves.

“Workleisure” Attire

We know what you are thinking: “Work and leisure combined? How?” With a work from home setup or a more open-to-comfort office setup, it is the standard now. As much as work is the opposite of leisure for most of us, this combination is achievable at least through the clothes you wear. Workleisure is similar to athleisure as it also brings the same implications of comfort and practicality while still blending some aspects of formality with it.

You can figure out your own workleisure attire by knowing first which items do not belong to this category. You do not want to include pajamas or any unflattering gym attire. Anything with holes or anything that is overly baggy is also not acceptable here.

Workleisure pieces are those that are off-duty pieces such as t-shirts, pullovers, joggers, or track pants translated in the materials and details that were meant for the office. This means that elastic waistbands and a little oversized clothing are alright, but only if worn with a good effort to still look work appropriately. If you think you look overly homey, go for a contrasting piece that gives a more work-related feel.

How You Look Affects How You Feel

In the fashion and psychology world, we can all agree that how you look has a direct correlation to how you feel. With the pandemic upon us, we all dressed in comfortable ways to perhaps comfort ourselves from the stress around us. We opted for basics and classic pieces because we knew we had to be practical with how we spend our money. Basics were the easiest to style and easiest to re-wear. Athleisure, workleisure, minimalism, basics – these are all the trends the pandemic brought to our world. At the end of the day, fashion also becomes a coping mechanism. We dress to be appropriate for a situation or to feel a certain way.