Analyzing Fashion in the Quarantine Era

A rite of passage for many, including my 13-year-old self, was trying out new styles during quarantine. It was an era when everyone had the time to find themselves and experiment with new looks. With TikTok rising in popularity during the COVID pandemic, many spent their vast amount of free time on the app. It gave many a sense of community and a place to express themselves. Fashion trends heavily circulated through the app, with the Alternative and Indie styles being the most popular. Posting oversaturated photos wearing oversized crewnecks, tennis skirts, printed masks, and baggy jeans was considered to be trendy and cool at the time. However, now many of us who have participated in this style have come to realize how weird a time this was. None of us would ever think to dress like this now. Whether it was a character development style experimentation or just quarantine making us all a little crazy, most of us would never choose to dress like this now. It is pretty fascinating studying the evolution of fashion trends and their effects on both the media and society, because I know that if I were to wear one of my outfits from quarantine, I would not get the same praise I got in 2020. I often wonder what everyone would have changed about their style if we had gone through the pandemic without TikTok. Would we have dressed the same without the hyperfixation space the app gave us? What I do know is that I would not have found my authentic style without experimenting with TikTok trends in 2020, and I would never have begun thrifting. I believe the chaotic outfits many of us thought were cool in 2020 were very formative, leading us to find ourselves and our authentic styles.