A PENDING COMEBACK: ROARING 20s!
DENIZ AKKAYA
It is a fact that we are all looking forward to wearing our clothes that we couldn’t wear last year!
The COVID-19 pandemic has changed a lot in our lives, from how we shop to how we work and how we exercise. We’ve seen that the way we dress has changed a lot along with all those things. We put our office and chich night out clothes away and just like that sweatpants became our everyday go-to. The post-pandemic seems to be a period in which we will definitely seek ways to reconnect socially, and clothing, hair and make-up will also be part of this therapy. Does that remind you of anything?
Clothes play a big role in how we express ourselves everyday. If the economic depression of 2008 led to the online shopping boom, can the fashion industry be expected to experience a rebirth at the end of this pandemic as well? It is one of the most talked about topics of recent times, where shopping for post-pandemic plans has increased and even been associated with ‘revenge shopping’. At the moment, all these dreams depend on the vaccination process and lockdown restrictions. Although we have adapted so quickly to being sweatpants lovers, there is no doubt that we will adopt the glam that reflects our renewed freedom and optimism with the same speed.
Designers like to draw inspiration from past eras, and given the conversations about how our post-pandemic social life will look like 1920s social life, we can learn a lot about style and life by looking at the Spanish Flu era. It is obvious that another virus has built the bridge between the 1920s and the present. The Curse of 1918, the Spanish Flu, infected nearly 500 million people and caused 50 million deaths. However, this period, like 2020, was also a period in which social and economic change accelerated. After the first world war and the deadliest epidemic in history, there was a decade of social freedom, creative and economic boom. In the 1920s, people partied and socialized as if there was no tomorrow, just like our dreams now. The 1918 virus killed more people than the deadliest war humanity has ever experienced, but it has never diminished humanity’s determination to socialize.
Similar crises we experienced in 2020 and our determination to believe in better days came to life in 2021/22 collections. The return of disco-era trends looks set to be the most fitting equivalent of this summer’s party mood for countries that have finished the vaccination process. Big brands such as Louis Vuitton, Balmain, Chanel have featured sequins, lamé and silvery looks in their 2021 Spring Summer collections. The beach prints of Versace, Altuzarra and Dior were the symbols of our desire to travel and enjoy the summer as we did before the pandemic.
Watching the results in real time feels a little surreal too, to be honest. In particular, we see that most of the predictions from both ends of the speculative spectrum have come true; Maximalism in prints, amazing knitwear, Regency-era corsets and Y2K style are just some of the contradictory trends in the mix.
The importance of ‘flapper’ fashion in the 1920s reflected the shorter skirt lengths, more abundant silhouettes and stubby hair, the more active roles women had previously reserved for men; however, they were also symbols of popular culture. In our 20s, the way we dress will be shaped by our new sense of freedom. We will take our step into a world where there are no dress codes, where we will have a broader acceptance of how to dress for every occasion.
