Playing Dress Up

There is a lot of debate these days as to whether anyone will ever dress up again post pandemic. I’ve been reading about the fashion industry re-evaluating the future of fashion. Fashion editors are asking if style as we know it is dead.

After over a year of wearing lounge wear will anyone ever dress up again? Or will it be like the roaring twenties after the Spanish flu finally ended? Will people be pulling out their finery and be dancing on tables? Will everyone be flocking to shops again, clamouring to get into change rooms and go on shopping sprees a la Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman?

After over a year of working from home, and only needing to dress from the waist up for zoom calls, it is reasonable to wonder if dressing up is dead. Will the idea of dressing up and wearing trends be replaced by leisure suits and leggings forever? Frankly I don’t know if I will ever wear a bra again, apologies in advance to everyone who isn’t a fan of boobs in alignment with one’s navel.

There has been something deliciously liberating about wearing comfy clothes, day in and day out. I was never a big dress up person to begin with, I am usually more on the slovenly end of the spectrum, but this past year took me to a new, lower bar. I love it ,and have fully embraced elastic waistbands and variations of the mumu.

That being said, however, I find I am wistful for the occasional dress up occasion. There is something to be said for having an event where you can pull out a frock and get your sparkle on. My favourite part of the ballet or opera was always intermission, when I could sip a glass of wine and survey everyone else’s outfits. I love seeing how people choose to preen and display themselves. It’s another persona to try out when we dress out of our every day comfort zone.

You will need to pry my Birkenstocks out of my cold dead hands, but a little sparkle and swish of a skirt at some point? I’ll be ready for that again. We may have relaxed our standards a little when it comes to dressing over the past year, but I think there is a hunger for a little peacocking again. I don’t think the dress up party will completely disappear, and I am looking forward to the night that I can squish my throbbing bunion into a great pair of heels again.

I may even wear a bra.

Photo Credits to:

Artem Beliakin

Andrea Piacquadio

Inga Seliverstova

Artem Podrez

The Lazy Artist Gallery