Fashion insists on fun as it reclaims time lost to pandemic

Eccentricity, joyfulness and spontaneity are all back in style following a period of restraint forced upon us by what seems to be a never-ending pandemic.

Super sexy cutouts, micro-minis, stripes, new boho, fringing and bold colours are just a few words describing 2022’s fashion trends .

While these trends are what we expect spring to look like the fact that many are creeping into street style already is evidence that the fashion calendar no longer dictates what we wear, when and how, as we head into the colder seasons in the southern hemisphere.

Indeed, a look at any street style images from the recent AW shows in New York, London and Milan, where it remains cold, shows that few are bothered by the weather, baring skin all the same.

It’s perhaps worth noting that social media has long upended the fashion month-led trend cycle, anyway. Runway shows beamed across the planet inspire street fashion trends almost immediately. Lines between seasons and regions have blurred, forcing a faster runway to rail response, especially where fast fashion is concerned.

A full six months ahead of reports that governments around the world are contemplating “endemic covid-19”, designers had already begun to anticipate a world beyond the confines of our homebound comfort. For two years, loungewear is reported to have been the fashion industry’s top performing style, forcing brands to incorporate it into activewear. Loose pants with drawstrings, for instance — what some refer to as “slob-chic”.

Like many of us, designers have long begun imagining a return to normal life, being around others, enjoying the outdoors, attending social events and eating out. The result? Tutti-frutti brights with zesty limes, heated scarlet shades, joyful daffodil and variations of harbour blue all making appearances across designer collections.

On hemlines specifically, beyond post-pandemic responses to dressing up, we can perhaps look to the Hemline Index, a theory often attributed to economist George Taylor, suggesting a correlation between the economy and skirt lengths.

Skirt lines rise in good economic times and fall when things get a little rough. While very little scientific evidence of this exists, it may be vital to note that it certainly held true back in the 1920s.

A brief shortening of skirt lengths also occurred around 2012 when the Great Recession was perceived to have been behind us. I would personally posit that skirt lengths are far more related to optimism and other forms of seismic change.

The trend in the 20s followed World War 1; in the 60s it became a symbol of women’s emancipation; in the late 70s, it marked the end of an era of unrest and the long-going Vietnam war; in the early 2010s, as it does now, it follows periods of global uncertainty, economic and otherwise.

As it stands, few are seeing the benefits of a rebounding economy, but certainly, finding one’s groove once again due to the restoration of individual liberties ought to birth at least some optimism, surely?

Whatever the case is, current trends demonstrate a return to the kind of playfulness and body consciousness that’s been missing from our closets for at least the last two years now. Sex looms large as tabloid mainstays like Megan Fox advance a trend to bring sexy back, prompting questions from the likes of Vogue India, asking: “Does the rise dominatrix couture signal the onset of an era of sex positivity?”

It’s worth seeing how far these trends will go in the mainstream. For what it’s worth, the fashion industry is, in its ever-extravagant glory, charting a way forward and it all seems based on the idea that the time has come for us to reclaim time lost to having no fun.