By Darlyn Granja

Life as we remember changed the moment the first COVID-19 case in Wuhan, China surfaced. Many had to say goodbye to comforting embraces with their loved ones, to celebrations with lively atmospheres, and even to friendly work office lunches. Life as we knew it changed in ways we did not expect and fashion is no stranger to this impact. In fact, COVID has altered fashion more deeply than most of us have realized. With the closing of many public places and the absence of social gatherings, these restrictions, especially enforced in smaller and enclosed spaces, have made individuals choose a more laid back way of dressing. With working from home becoming a prominent rule in order to avoid more contagion, this pandemic has caused impactful changes in fashion. 

In a regular Monday to Friday week, especially in busy cities such as New York, workers would often wear very formal and often costly attire. According to The Trend Spotter writer Alyce Evans, the most common and suitable formal wear for men and women tend to be exclusive name brands such as Burberry, Dolce and Gabbana, Gucci, and Saint Laurent. All of these brands' prices range from 400 dollars and up, although not everyone uses the prior mentioned brands for office work but, they are quite common, especially for prestigious companies. With laws restricting nonessential office labor, workers have opted to work from home and now their whole closet has changed. Many have gravitated to comfortable wear such as T-shirts and sweatpants and now, with many economic situations tied up with COVID-19, workers prefer this less expensive, more convenient way of dressing. 

In some ways, this is economically beneficial but to some designers, it’s been deeply concerning. This is especially true for smaller name brand markets, where fewer people are interested in shopping for clothing or accessories that they cannot show to the world. The conundrum for these smaller brands becomes, what else could there be to sell? This question constantly appeared, not just for sellers but buyers as well. What could people want or need to buy when social activities and gatherings are restricted? The answer to that is simple: face masks and coverings. In 2020 face masks have been a very important factor, not only for health, social and economic reasons but for fashion as well. A research article by Grand View Research Inc estimates that the market of reusable face coverings will be worth around 7.08 billion dollars from 2020 to 2027. This is just an estimate but shows the newfound importance of face coverings to the market. 

Now one may wonder: How did this affect fashion? During the first few weeks of the pandemic, we would see almost everyone wearing the same medical blue colored mask. But little by little the market for face masks, more commonly known as face coverings, began to increase. As time went by, people began to accept that face-covering would be here to stay and most decided to express their personalities, as well as fashion sense, through these new accessories. Nowadays, the blue medical mask is still prominent but people have unleashed their creativity. Personal taste is put on display, shown through the many design variations of these face coverings. This emergent category of fashion is now being integrated, now a very important and mandatory accessory. People customize their face masks according to the impression that they want to make. 

Just like when it comes to dressing, people can now make first glance impressions on a person based on their face coverings. Some may be funny, some may be elegant, some may be colorful or monochrome, or some may just be the familiar blue medical mask. Whatever style it may be, willingly or not, people are making an impression on someone. In fashion, there is a saying that establishes that fashion is personal and that every person has their own unique style. Designers and artists believe that fashion resembles art; just like art, fashion can be anything that a person wants it to be and face coverings in a way confirm this. Fashion makes a statement and face masks have contributed to this. A lot of people use face coverings to stand out while others don't; either way face coverings have been integrated to fashion. Many brand name designers and designers with smaller companies have even made face coverings to match attires which is quite incredible. COVID-19 has taken so much from us as a society but it has also proved that creativity and fashion can never die.

Darlyn is a culture writer for La Tonique.