My relationship with my clothes has been evolving during the pandemic.
I have my own style. For a long time, I have chosen to wear light-colored dress shirts, rather than white shirts, for business and other formal occasions. Through the years, before the pandemic, I accumulated a collection of sport jackets, dress slacks, shirts, and Jerry Garcia ties. I wore them when I met with clients, attended dressier cultural events, or went to religious services.
During the pandemic, I have continued to do all three of these activities, although through Zoom and in a more limited way. But the clothes I wear has changed dramatically, even for those activities. Now I dress much more casually.
Lately, I’ve been experimenting not just with the clothes I wear but even how I wear them. For example, in the past, I may have worn a colored t-shirt underneath a nice casual long-sleeved shirt. Now, I may wear the same colored t-shirt on top of the long-sleeved shirt. Because I can and want to.
A friend of mine, age 83, just bought a pair of blue jeans and is wearing jeans for the first time in his life. This was a big deal for him. For him it was taking on a new identity.
I have been suspecting for some time that our behaviors would evolve as the pandemic progressed. Are these clothes-wearing changes related to the pandemic? If so, will we revert to our old style when the pandemic ends? Do these changes result from boredom or a sense of adventure?
We define ourselves by what we say and do. The clothes we wear are an announcement that we send to ourselves and to others about who we are. Any modifications we make to what we wear are a message to the world that we ourselves have changed, that we have different identities in this time of the pandemic.
Are you wearing different clothes recently? What message do you want to send out to others?