2020 Women’s Spring Fashion: Nostalgic Yet Forward-Thinking
2020 has been an unprecedented year in human history. Just as human beings have been changing their lives as a result of the global pandemic, they have also been changing the ways they dress. They have less cause to go to the office than ever before, and are more apt to be spending time at home. Of course, fashion collections are assembled far before such newsworthy trends can have an impact upon fashion in the stores. But even in 2019, there was a new evident influence in fashion emphasizing casualness and a shying away from overt sexuality. The years 2019-2020 were showing early evidence of looking back to 1990s grunge and deploying more relaxed, unconstructed silhouettes in women’s fashions. Fashion was looking backward, to a simpler, less complicated pre-Internet time, but also ahead to a less gendered view of how women should dress.
TheTrendSpotter noted in its list of “12 Standout Trends That Ruled the Spring 2020 Runways,” that some of the most notable new trends in collections included puffy Victorian-style sleeves worn with more casual wear and chunky shoes worn with feminine dresses, another popular 90s trend (Feiam). These trends indicate a shying away from the sexuality of women’s...
Instead, there was new nostalgia for previous, more recent gender-flexible eras such as the 90s grunge aesthetic common the pre-Internet era, as well as even more long-ago eras like the 19th century (Feiam).
On one hand, the looking backward, particularly to the Victorians, could be seen as a desire for more...…pajama aesthetic of the
coronavirus and reflects a larger trend about questioning what goes with what. Women are exercising greater discretion over how the marketplace markets to them and markets the feminine image. Finally, there was a trend to social consciousness in using more environmentally-friendly fabrics and cruelty-free products such as faux fur in high fashion (Feiam). Given that young women are often more passionate about animal rights and saving the environment, reflecting a more liberal social consciousness. Designers are beginning to listen to women, in other words, and although the industry may be negatively impacted by the shying away from social occasions necessitated by the current environment, there appears to be some positive trends in regards to responsiveness to the target female consumer and her practical needs and political concerns.
Works Cited
Feiam, Ally.…
