“I’m really into purple velvet right now”, Rosie Colvin said. “Think Willy Wonka, or maybe Prince.That’s my vibe.”
The UK fashion designer was discussing her dream ensemble for when she’d finally be released from quarantine. Currently waiting for permission to return to Nanjing, where she works for an assortment of brands, both international and domestic, Colvin has found herself deprived of the opportunity to express her style to the outside world.
“I’ve been planning some freedom outfits,” she said over the phone from her parent’s house in Manchester, England.
She wore a pair of refurbished “Michael Jackson tap shoes” to the supermarket the other day, she said. A man with a red beard complimented her in the meat aisle. “He said, ‘Hey, I like your shoes.’ I had my mask on so he couldn’t see that I smiled. But I smiled with my eyes.”
She sighed.
“I miss wearing nice clothes,” she said. “I can’t wait to go out to the bar, get dressed up and feel like myself again.”
As with everything the novel coronavirus leaves in its wake, a reckoning has been brought upon the fashion industry. Companies across the globe have struggled to cope with supply chain issues and weak demand, leading many to shutter their doors and manufacturing facilities. In some cases, they’ve had no choice but to file for bankruptcy.
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The pandemic has also led to the postponement or cancellation of a number of fashion weeks, including in Beijing and Shanghai; Shanghai Fashion Week was scheduled to begin on 26 March, while Beijing’s China Fashion Week was slated to run from 25 to 31 March.
Yet in China, reasons for optimism remain. As precaution and paranoia increasingly fade out of style, making way for a renewed sense of sartorial fervor, the citizens of Nanjing appear eager to make up for lost time.
“I’ve definitely found myself more open to spontaneity”, Trina Tulloch, 29, said of her approach to life after quarantine. “It’s been fun to get ready for nights out. The ritual is a bit refreshed. I’ve rekindled my love of getting ready.”
Social distancing, for all intents and purposes, appears firmly behind us in Nanjing, a relic of last season. Gone are the days of confinement and our sedentary existence. Bars and restaurants are open for in-house dining. Temperature guns are seen less frequently.
Once more, we are allowed to roam free.
The privilege of leaving our homes, however, demands that we walk about with dignity. “I was living in my pajamas,” lamented Natalie Roman, 24, who has been working from home as an English teacher as a precaution against the spread of Covid-19. “If I had to work, I’d just change my top, since that’s all anyone can see.”
Sheltering at home is a thing of the past. No longer existing within the confines of a computer screen, we must account for the entirety of our bodies when getting dressed. The clothes available to us, however, are also primed for a radical rethinking.
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“I think we’re going to see a lot less choice on our shelves”, Colvin said. “Companies are going to take fewer risks. You might not see as many things that are trend-driven.”
Carla Bissell, a fashion merchandiser based in Nanjing, said the impact of the virus won’t necessarily be felt right away. “So much of what’s happening now was decided before the virus arrived, so there’s still a lot of unknowns”, she said.
More pressing to the current moment is how consumers will respond to their new reality. While some are eager to spend money after having so many outlets for their disposable income nullified, others who have been furloughed or otherwise seen a dip in their salaries are bound to be more modest in their spending.
And then there’s the question of the garments themselves. Should the look align with the destabilising nature of the current moment, or intentionally offer a brighter outlook in stark relief from the existential anxiety from which we suffer?
“Fashion is still a form of escapism. For me, anyway, you still want a bit of an aspirational look to it”, Colvin said. “In times when things are difficult and people are going through a lot, will we feel frivolous dressing in a certain way? Or will we want to express ourselves more after being locked up and not seeing the outside world?”
For fashion insiders desperate for guidance on how to weather the storm, the people of China could serve as a valuable testing ground for projecting what their customers want as the global crisis continues on throughout the rest of the world.
“What I realised during that time is how much we spend and how deep into consumerism I was”, Roman said. “I try to be more cautious now when shopping. I already have so much, I don’t need to buy more.”
For others, shopping for garments on Taobao offered a way to pass the time during quarantine. “Once you try on the clothes and they fit nicely, you can’t wait”, said Tulloch, who purchased jumpers, heels, blouses, jeans and gym clothes, while social distancing in her apartment. “It’s giving yourself something to look forward to.”
Ecommerce has never been more vital for a business to succeed. Consumers have also never been faced with the burden of preserving a company’s survival. While behemoths like Amazon and Taobao offer the luxury of convenience, the spread of Covid-19 has tested the viability of smaller businesses, both in and out of the fashion industry.
Tied into the equation is the topic of sustainability; The British Fashion Council confirmed that a new version of London Fashion Week will be completely digital in light of the pandemic and that the event will be gender-neutral, meaning that menswear, womenswear and genderless shows will be merged together.
Even before the onset of Covid-19, the fashion industry was shifting toward sustainability. “We need to do less”, Miuccia Prada said after her Spring 2020 women’s show last September. “There is too much fashion, too much clothes, too much of everything.”
Delays in the manufacturing supply chain means the trend-focused fast fashion business will be in peril, as the timeline from design to delivery is no longer sustainable under the current circumstances. But for many within the industry, the yearning for more sustainability can be traced back to before the virus.
Donning her signature black glasses during an interview with the model, Naomi Campbell, Vogue editor, Anna Wintour, reiterated the need for the industry to slow down.
“We need to celebrate the art of fashion and the design of fashion and we need to slow down and enjoy it much more and not always be saying, ‘What’s new? What’s next?’” Wintour said.
