Do you feel like lockdown changed you & now you should dress differently?

[Beeth0ven]

Just that really.
I looked at all my old work clothes the other day and I really couldn’t connect with the person who bought & wore them. They seem so alien. I feel different and like those clothes are a thing of the past and a person I no longer am. Can anyone else empathise? Will I simply get over it or is it deeper?

I feel differently about my wardrobe, yes.

Half a century of avant-garde luxury ... And now I'm looking through all the websites I habitually turn to and thinking - who cares? Nobody is going to care about the directional cut of my trousers or the innovative fabric of my beautiful new top when so many people have died, so many are ill or grieving, and all we'll be worried about is keeping our distance.

I bought a fabulous padded jacket in last year's sales, thinking it would be perfect for Autumn 2020 ... It's still untouched and looks ridiculously frivolous and irrelevant now.

So I'm currently obsessing over this new need for plain and simple, utilitarian, living-with-a-pandemic-forever clothes. Even with summer coming, it all feels a bit bleak.

@MayIDestroyYou - interesting. And also

I physically can’t wear any of my stuff before covid because I have gained so much weight.

I haven’t really changed the way I dress despite almost entirely WFH. I’ve always dressed in smart casual stuff, most of my wardrobe is suitable for most days.

I put on trousers, a smartish top and a cardigan most days, plus jewellery. I do my hair and make up. Starting to wonder if I do genuinely dress mainly for me, I enjoy picking new combinations of clothes and experimenting with make up. It’s been great to test out things like eyeshadow staying power (if I can’t make it work at home, it’s never going to work).

The only difference is I’ve worn jeans more as my bottom half can’t be seen and I love wearing jeans. I only have one pair of jogging bottoms, slim ones which I wear for Pilates.

I did spend a lot of time evaluating my wardrobe so hopefully I have lots of nice outfits for the return to real life. It helps I bought quite a bit in 2020, after identifying some gaps. I also logged all my clothes in StyleBook.

I’ve been happy cameras can’t pick up bad skin easily as have been having some issues there.

I agree on heels, they were already falling out of favour and I think this may be the final nail in the coffin. I don’t mind a low heeled boot but any kind of court shoe with a heel is out for me, they seem old fashioned now anyway.

Must admit that I havent been to church in six months, or however long. Going today, opened the wardrobe, and thought "what would I usually wear"? Doesnt help that we have gone through two seasons since then.

I think everyone will have changed to a larger or smaller degree.

Totally relate, OP.

I’m slowly replacing my old work wardrobe, as it just doesn’t feel like me anymore. Various factors involved.

My ‘old’ style was pencil dresses and heels. Suited my hourglass figure and was smart/semi-corporate for my management role. But after a year in trainers, I just can’t go back to heels! I’m compromising with some slingback flats that go with my old work dresses at the moment, but actually, I want something properly comfortable and I don’t like my work dresses any more anyway so I need a whole new look. I’m investigating trousers for the first time in years and looking at different styles of dress. It’s all a bit daunting!

The comfort factor is a big one, but lockdown also coincided with me hitting my mid forties and I feel like I just don’t care enough about what other people think of me to be faffing with looking ‘presentable’. I want to wear something that reflects ME - practical, comfortable, yes stylish but not defined by what other people think. Dunno if that makes any sense?

I also lost a stone in lockdown (bonus!) so good excuse to buy some new clothes...

I don't merit flowers, Beeth0ven!

Bought my first ever hoody during lockdown ... I never have bought specifically home clothes - just worn old stuff, hand-me-downs, whatever, and spent money on things to wear outside the house. That didn't really work for months and months of lockdown so I ventured into Uniqlo loungewear. It's been fine, but now everything's disinfectant-stained and shrunken and decrepit looking - and I don't think I can be this person any more, either.

And yes, the extra weight. I'm still imagining myself looking as I did last Spring ...

“ disinfectant-stained and shrunken and decrepit looking”

Sounds like me - except perhaps the shrunken part 😂

My style has def changed, more hoody and joggers now. Im worried about fitting into my uniform tomorrow as it was tight before and Ive put on at least a stone, if not more.

I've always dressed fairly casually, including for work, so that hasn't really changed. Apart from one pair of joggers from M&S - which I haven't worn - I've not got into loungewear either. I'm looking forward to wearing smarter things again on occasion. I guess the biggest change is that I've pretty much given up on makeup, which I was inching towards anyway. I'm not planning to go back to it but we'll see.

I think fashion has changed - more than I thought it would but then I never expected things to carry on this long (which is probably just as well). But then fashion is always changing and it'll do so again I'm sure. I'm no anthropologist but, as far as I'm aware, human beings have always gone in for dressing up and I've seen nothing to make me think that's about to end.

I think the biggest change will be to fashion retailing and, as someone who's thoroughly disillusioned with online shopping, I can't say I welcome it. I'm not looking forward to going into town - we're going to have a lot of big, empty, boarded up buildings and, unless Philip Green pops back to buy them all for £1, I can't see many people wanting to take them on. When I'm feeling positive, I tell myself it could be the making of some small, independent retailers; other times, I imagine ending up with designers at one end, Boohoo at the other and nothing in between.

I was looking through all my lovely flat shoes which I used to wear for both work and at the weekend, but they feel too dressy for casual wear with jeans now.

I’m on a get fit and healthy mission at the moment, and then I’m going to cull my wardrobe. Once I know when I’ll definitely be going back to the office I’m going to start again on workwear, as everything I have seems so dated now.

I guess one thing that has stymied my usual new Spring dressing excitement is the realisation that I probably won't be hugging any friends or colleagues for the foreseeable - and therefore no one will be saying "Gosh, you smell lovely!" So where's the point in a new Spring perfume?

It's astonishing how much my self image is re-made with each perfume purchase; I undoubtably choose clothes to portray the person I anticipate becoming. If I don't order some fresh discovery from Bloom or Les Senteurs I really won't know who I'm meant to be this year ...

I wear more makeup now than I did before. I didn't wear mascara and lipstick except on special occasions and never used eyeliner. In lockdown I decided to give them a try to cheer myself up.

I thought it would be time consuming for every day but it's a couple of minutes. I'll continue with it once we get back to normal.

@MayIDestroyYou

I guess one thing that has stymied my usual new Spring dressing excitement is the realisation that I probably won't be hugging any friends or colleagues for the foreseeable - and therefore no one will be saying "Gosh, you smell lovely!" So where's the point in a new Spring perfume?

It's astonishing how much my self image is re-made with each perfume purchase; I undoubtably choose clothes to portray the person I anticipate becoming. If I don't order some fresh discovery from Bloom or Les Senteurs I really won't know who I'm meant to be this year ...

I wear perfume every day even if I never leave the house. It’s for me. The idea that it's for validation when people hug you seems very odd to me.

@Oblomov21 @Cupidity snap! I had planned on losing weight during first lockdown and re-emerging transformed but instead gained a stone and a half and have not managed it this lockdown either. Worse, I am moving to London and I already felt I needed to smarten up my clothes and grooming whenever I went there, long before covid.
I have plenty of lovely clothes, they just don't fit!

See I love getting dressed and going straight downstairs every morning, love those extra couple of minutes I used to spend on eye makeup. I can't imagine giving them up now. On the other hand, I'll cheerfully obsess for hours over whether my trouser hems - which hardly anyone is going to see - hit my ankle at the right point

I can't imagine wearing some of my work clothes ever again particularly tailoring, even if I could do it up!

I wore flats anyway for work but I've got a pair of brogues that I bought just before lockdown 1 still in the box. The idea of breaking those in could make me cry.

Not validation; communication.

And yes, I wear perfume at home, of course. But new stuff presents a new version of me to people - and I find out something about them from how they react. (If they do.) The anticipation of this particular level of ... exchange is usually thrilling. I shall miss it this year.

@MayIDestroyYou

Not validation; communication.

And yes, I wear perfume at home, of course. But new stuff presents a new version of me to people - and I find out something about them from how they react. (If they do.) The anticipation of this particular level of ... exchange is usually thrilling. I shall miss it this year.

Each to their own but

hugging any friends or colleagues for the foreseeable - and therefore no one will be saying "Gosh, you smell lovely!" So where's the point in a new Spring perfume?

seems completely bizarre. There's no point in a new perfume unless someone tells you they smell lovely?

MissBarbary, are you my mother? She often tries to tell me that something I feel is not a valid feeling ...

I have smartened up and like someone else mentioned, l'm beginning to feel a bit sheepish about a big tah-dah moment back in the office. However l will screw my courage to the sticking place as long used to dress smartly before DD came along. I have lost weight and had a confidence boost. I'm also looking for a new job so it feels like a fresh look is in order.

I've been so bored over lockdown that I started buying 1960s vintage dresses from ebay in an effort to find myself and become more quirky and stylish. Being 47 and not in my 20s, rather than looking like a sexy Twiggy I look like a drunken Grandma who has had too many glasses of Sherry at Christmas.

I think I've come full circle. I enjoyed the freedom of wearing loungewear and no make-up to WFH, but now I'm itching to get back to normal.

I had my hair cut back into a pixie cut yesterday, which requires a trim every 6 weeks to keep it in shape. I had a pixie cut before the first lockdown, but it had grown out into a long bob which felt really frumpy. It feels great to have "my" hair back.

I've bought some new make up to replace the old dried up stuff and have started painting my nails again. I can't wait to go back to the office and wear work clothes. My office is quite casual, but it will still be a step up from yoga pants...

Hi @Arrowheart, me and my 80s lame and taffeta will join you. I love a sherry.

I can't connect with them because I still can't fit in them. Am 8 weeks post parting and my boobs are enormous and still have this weird wobbly belly. So I look at my old clothes and feel like I don't even know who I am anymore. Feel like getting rid and starting again except I can't afford it.