Target, the chain which knows exactly what shoppers need before they do, recently unveiled a fashion campaign with outfits that are exclusively meant for the waist and up. “Video Conference Outfits” in the store’s women section features fun shirts, colorful blouses, jewelry, hair accessories and lipstick.
This section of the website gives you everything you need to look Zoom ready. “Complete your Virtual Statement Look,” the page reads, with one piece of clothing noticeably missing: pants. Just don’t stand up in front of the camera until you’re completely out of the video call.
Meetings, classes, happy hours, and even first dates have been held on Zoom since the start of the coronavirus pandemic. Many have opted for sweatpants and pajama bottoms instead of slacks or jeans since day-to-day activities have become remote.
How the coronavirus will affect the fashion industry remains to be seen. fashion historian Kimberly Chrisman-Campbell told NPR in April about how the pandemic could influence fashion choices.
“It’s been fascinating to me to observe how fashion brands and consumers are adapting to widespread lockdowns,” she admitted. “Athleisure will get maybe a natural boost from this because people will continue to wear it after the lockdown maybe more than they felt comfortable doing before. It’s sort of a double-edged sword, though, because we are buying less because we’re not going anywhere.”
“But retail therapy is a real thing, and a lot of people are shopping online for entertainment or out of necessity, maybe even for the first time, and they’ll continue to do it,” Chrisman-Campbell continued. “And retailers are, of course, adapting to this.”
Additionally, protective face masks are required or encouraged in many states, and retailers have designed their own stylish coverings to help curb the spread of the virus. “In the fall and winter 2019 runway shows, there were a lot of masks on the runway - both the protective kind and sort of the carnivalesque face masks,” the fashion historian said. “So things that were already sort of percolating in the high fashion arena are now accelerated.”
Chrisman-Campbell also speculated that, much like during Word War I, beards were starting to go out of style. “Very early on in this pandemic, the CDC issued guidelines for things like beards and fingernails because those can be vectors of the virus, but they can also interfere with your protective gear,” she said. “For example, it’s hard to wear latex gloves over long fingernails. It’s hard to put a face mask or a breathing device over a beard.”
Fashion will continue to adapt throughout the pandemic, but until then, this writer will embrace blouses paired with comfortable sweatpants for every video call.
