The Market Monitor Minding the Nation's Business
By Gem Suguitan
What is so interesting in fashion at the time of pandemic? 2022 may be a year when people are hopeful that the present public health situation will already ease up or at least they will learn to adapt, learning to live with covid-19 around, but for some who are still working from home, what has changed when it comes to fashion?
For one, there is the smart casual or sometimes formal wear that shows only the top. Online meetings and webinars usually do not show the whole picture, anyway. What is worn from waist down has not mattered much. It could be shorts or pajamas, and flip-flops instead of shoes, sometimes even barefoot. Heels and boots are shelved since slippers can serve the purpose.
Cotton loungewear that match, walking dasters and housedresses are also worn. As long as it looks good and appropriate, it has become a norm. Jewelry and accessories are still in, particularly on the head, face, and upper parts of the body. Lip colors are used at home when face masks are not worn during virtual meeting or gathering. Otherwise, lips can be literally nude since only the face masks matter.
Face masks are so in! Foremost for protection and health reasons, it has become a necessity for the past two years. Aside from medical or surgical masks, fashion designers and local weavers alike have designed their own in order to promote their products and adapt to the pandemic. It had been a chance for collectors to acquire a piece of heritage cloth from different parts of the country.
Lockdowns and quarantines have changed the way we dress up. Even in receiving deliveries of food or purchased items online, some wear a scarf, pashmina or alampay not to be fashionable but for convenience. Because at home, most women go braless. Scarves and pashminas cover up the nipples.
Still, there are people who dress up to post photos on social media. Others, because they really go out for essential reasons. During pandemic, most people don’t see the need to buy clothing. But style is something that can be done even with just what is available in the closet. All it takes is creativity and yes, at times, necessity. Sometimes even, mere confidence can carry one’s fashion statement!
GEM SUGUITAN is a journalist, a cultural worker, and a visual artist. She is Southern Luzon’s Representative to the National Executive Committee on Museums at the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA).