Sweatpants Forever? My interview on CBC radio!

I was recently asked to appear on CBC radio Eyeopener, to talk about fashion during this pandemic and what the future might hold. While we didn’t discuss it on air it was based little bit around an article in the New York Times called sweatpants forever. 

Is he wrong tho?

(Listen here!) https://www.cbc.ca/listen/live-radio/1-5-calgary-eyeopener/clip/15795339-the-future-fashion

Now if you know me personally you know that I have always had a disdain for sweatpants. They always had a connotation of those phys-ed heather grey and not to mention I don’t love exercising. Wearing sweats seemed like giving up on life as per Karl Lagerfeld. I also at some point realized that there were a lot of people wearing sweatpants out of necessity; people who can’t continuously dry clean their clothes or have limited time or ability to get dressed with buttons and zippers. What also happened was we had a pandemic and a lot of us decided to take our comforts where ever we could find them and for some of us (yes me too!) that was found in a pair of fleece lined “soft pants”. In this year of our lord 2020, sweatpants are a symbol of care for ourselves and our communities as we stay home to minimize the harm of Covid-19 and also allow ourselves to use that time and energy we spent getting dressed up on more important things.

Of course the pendulum swings in fashion and when people do have to put in the effort to get dressed up like for a party or a zoom event even, they are going to get extravagant with it. You have the chance to really go wild, especially in the confines of your own home, hence the rise in popularity of frilly fluffy blousy and just big comfy clothes. The strawberry dress by New York designer Lirika Matoshi is emblematic of this fantasy wear as it’s really impractical and fun. Fashion can be a real mood booster and with their sales going through the roof and thousands of copies being made people really seem to need that mood boost. Lady Gaga at this year’s VMAs gave us the full fantasy wearing a plethora of looks from a range of designers (shout out to that Area silver leather heart shaped number and that Valentino super long Haute Couture white feathered coat!) with the added bonus of fantastical masks stating “Wear a mask, it’s a sign of respect.”.

People are now going back to the office so we will probably see a reflexive return to some professional dress codes and hard pants, but even before the pandemic these rules were being slowly eroded. Companies are already adapting with casual Friday becoming just casual everyday. Predicting the future isn’t easy but one thing that is for sure, we will always use fashion to signal our status or our affiliations, whether casually or not. 

Please drop me a comment (I miss talking to people!) if you liked the interview and thanks for listening!