Post-Pandemic Dressing — What Are Consumers Buying Now?

The Covid-19 pandemic changed lives and changed dress codes. Professionals traded trousers and pencil skirts for sweatpants and leggings, as comfort became the driving consideration for any purchase. But with vaccinations on the rise and economies beginning to reopen, will consumers embrace their old dress codes, or has the way people think about fashion changed for good?

“The focus on our clothes and our style is less on ‘How does this look?’ and ‘How does this aesthetic value suit the environment I’m going into?’” said fashion psychologist Shakaila Forbes-Bell. “It’s shifted to ‘How do clothes make me feel? How can I function in this? How does this signal something specific about me?’”

BoF’s Brian Baskin and Diana Pearl sit down with Forbes-Bell, and Edited market analyst Kayla Marci to assess the consumer landscape, talk trends and evaluate how retailers are reacting to changes in demand.