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Covid-19 changed everything—including the fashion industry. The fashion industry has declined during 2020 for many reasons: people staying home willingly to shield themselves from the virus; restricted travel; job lay-offs; working from home; and not many places to go, period. So why shop at all?
However, fashion marches on for the ladies who embrace looking cute for Zoom calls and those who ventured out to outdoor concerts, outdoor dining, and finally socially distanced indoor dining when it became safe to do so.
So, what’s fashion forward for 2021?
Pretty colors will come into play for women’s fashion. Pastels, yellow, camel, bubblegum pink, and bold blues will be all the rage. But when it comes to face masks, the chic color of choice is black. The reason for black face masks is that they match almost every outfit and are considered stylish by the fashion industry.
Borrowing from other decades, some of the hip fashion items we’ll be seeing for women include oversized jackets (1980s), head scarves (1950s, 1960s), and white knee-high boots—1960s go-go style! You’ll also notice wide-bottomed denim jeans, taken from the 1970s. They’ll be mainly high-rise, but way too cool to be confused with “mom’s jeans.”
Dresses will be joyful mood-lifters—and we certainly can use that! Larger-than-life, puffy-sleeved, and whimsical; made of satins and silks, brilliantly colored orange, and fuchsia. With a vaccine for Covid on the horizon, celebratory clothing will certainly be a hit.
An ingenious way to shop at home
As women are looking forward to going out again, they may still be shopping at home—via clothing subscription boxes.
During 2020, women did not have access to retail stores, so they spent much more time shopping online. That included apparel, of course. Many women—and men—also discovered the benefits of having a clothing subscription box. Some of the popular ones include Stitch Fix, Daily Look, and Wantable.
The way it works is you are assigned a personal stylist who picks out clothes for you, stuffs them in a box, and mails them to you. You try on the clothes. What you like, you keep. What you don’t like, you send back in a prepaid package. And you don’t pay for anything until you decide to keep it. It’s a win/win. You don’t have to leave your home. You have the benefit of trying on clothes in complete privacy. And you can also go through your closet to see if you already own something that can match with what you may be interested in keeping. You can’t beat that!
This is how your stylist gets to know you:
First, you fill out a bunch of quizzes, letting the companies know your sizes and personal taste. Depending on the company, it could be a series of “Is this your style?”; or running through a stream picking a “wish list” or a “decline”; or sending notes and photos directly to your stylist!
Once a month you pay a styling fee (between $20 to $40, depending which company you go with) which is used as a credit towards your purchase. You’ll receive a box of five to 10 items (again, depending on which company you go with). Items can be blouses, pants, coats, scarves, jeans, sweaters, bags, hats, shoes, accessories, or boots. All pieces are from a variety of designers. You may even see your favorites.
After you try on the clothes and decide what you want to keep, you have between three and seven days to return them in the prepaid package. Then you go online and “check out.” When checking out, you will be provided with boxes to explain why you love something or why you’re returning it. This will help your stylist get to know you better.
The best part is that the commitment isn’t really a commitment. You can opt out anytime. But if you like this way of clothes shopping, you can receive boxes once a month, more often, or less often. It’s all about you and your fashion needs!
When the world returns to normal; or as it spins with the “new normal” you can be as fashion-ready as ever if you start shopping now.
If you’d like to try Stitch Fix, you can use the author’s referral link for a $25 credit towards your first purchase.
What are some women’s fashion trends to look out for in 2021? Let us know down in the comments.
This article originally published on GREY Journal.
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