photo courtesy: andrea piacquadio
With everyone from corporate power players and university professors, to fashion stylists and customer service reps working from home, work place dress codes have taken a bit of a shift from their standard protocol, towards the more ‘comfortable’ casual wear. Who can blame us? We all know how comfortable casual velvet, brushed cottons, jersey knits and stretch fabrics can be in athletic wear, pj’s and yoga wear. Even Vogue Editor-In-Chief Anna Wintour who once professed to never stoop so low as to wear sweats, deigned to be photographed for an article wearing just such a leisure habiliment. Could the professional script on the horizon now be flipped from ‘casual Friday’s’ to ‘casual everyday’? Will the standard ‘dress down’ be the new ‘dress up’? Only time will tell.
In the meanwhile, with leisure wear now becoming the ‘go to’ attire for a majority of Americans experiencing the ‘in’s’ and not so ‘out’s’ of self-distancing, fashion status symbols have seemingly been rendered nearly useless. Instead of dressing as fashion dictates, people are dressing more for comfort. From warm, comfy leggings in fantastic colors and designs, to cotton jersey coordinates, the sporty fabric of choice certainly don’s a more relaxed look, feel, attitude and mindset. But does this shift reflect a devolution in the fashion movement itself?
Scott Sternberg, founder of sustainable basics label Entireworld had this to say about the causal fashion trend… ” Sweats exemplify an alternative set of values that are not part of fashion system, but still play on an emotional level.” For Sternberg, sweats are “something that keep you warm and cozy, it’s a fashion statement in itself…it’s a choice, it’s not a devolution.”
However it’s perceived, and however the trend unfolds, it seems it’s here for a while. So to all our designers and DIY’ers, BE INSPIRED!
Basket-weave cotton fabric offers a flexible yet durable material with a textured hand.
fashion ready poly-lycra offers a lightweight yet supportive fit and feel
If you put a premium on comfort and breath-ability in your fabrics, 100% Poma polyester knits are the way to go
- Poly-lycra offers the contour and comfort of a stretchy-to-fit material .
Velour fabric with 4-way stretch offers a contour fit, soft feel, and in this pic, a funky floral glitter design
Like what you see? Check out more leisure ware fabric here.
