What are you wearing in the age of anxiety?

What are you wearing lately? If recent and runway trends are anything to go by, you’ve probably successfully put pandemic-era drawstring pants and sweatshirts aside, swapping them for suiting, or maybe even garments with cut-out details, micro skirts and the like.

One thing is for sure: colour — tonnes of it — as well as floral prints, big bow details, fringing and other, more fun, options have made their way into many people’s wardrobes owing to the demands of living life beyond the confines of a flat, house or complex.

More than anything, however, we’re just yearning for normality — something that has eluded us for the past two years. Unfortunately for us, that sense that we need to return to something that even closely resembles normality is something we’re going to have to live with for a while to come.

The pandemic may have been declared a thing of the past by some, but what about the war in Ukraine? Are you feeling its effects yet? At the petrol station, maybe? What about the grocery store? Do you want to shed a tear every time you have to pull out your card to swipe at the till?

What about the polarising politics that have given rise to far-right extremism across the US and Europe? Closer to home, I’m personally finding it exhausting having to contend with the persistent load-shedding. The news that our water supply now calls for “water-shedding” could have added to my anxiety, but I can’t tell what’s making me anxious any more.

What I do know is that I need some respite, and maybe that lies in something other than dwelling in reality, which makes me feel rudderless with crises abound. I’m searching for optimism, and when I look at what’s going on in fashion, something tells me I’m not alone.

Very Peri, the intense purple shade that is Pantone’s colour of the year, was created from scratch by the colour institute to reflect the need to look at the world through new eyes. Much of this speaks to the merging of our digital and physical selves as talks of a “metaverse” ramp up, but the colour inspired dissent from some quarters. For one, renowned trends forecaster Li Edelkoort told the New York Times: “Very Peri seemed like a perilous colour during a time frame in need of warm palettes for the home, which include terra cotta, brown and beige.”

She went on to basically accuse the institute of “pushing a shade of purplish blue down people’s throats with no relation to the way we are living and evolving. Humans want to be embraced by their environments in troubled times, which doesn’t allow for an invented, non-cool blue hue.”

I’m inclined to agree with Edelkoort, but at the same time, perhaps we do need an escape. From the Barbiecore trend to the bright hues — pink, red, even zesty limes — that popped up on the runways of New York, London, Paris and Milan just last month, there seems to be a consensus among designers, at least, that the world needs an escape. An escape from soaring prices. An escape from political instability — something we don’t have to look far for as we are experiencing a full-blown political crisis right here at home.

If you don’t think so, perhaps it’s worth posing a few simple questions to you: Do you feel safe? Do you feel like SA is headed in the right direction? How is your bank account looking? Most importantly, how do you feel? Who are you voting into power? Do you trust them to do the right thing?

These are questions I suspect would produce similar responses from anyone anywhere in the world. In the UK, a recently appointed prime minister only lasted 45 days in the position. In the US, voters are weighing whether to save democracy by voting for the Democrats, or swing towards the Republicans as Joe Biden struggles with inflation, and cities across states grapple with rising crime rates. The Brazilians are faring no better where “Bolsonarism” has become their version of “Trumpism”. Let’s not speak about Russia, or Italy. In fact, maybe tell me where things don’t seem to be spiralling out of control, because I’m all ears.

And so, I ask again: what are you wearing lately? Are you dressing in your brightest colours, pining for an inkling of optimism in this age of anxiety? Are you wearing micro-skirts and garments with cut-out details, thinking “this, too, shall pass; let me have some fun in the meantime”? Methinks we all deserve to.