How to dress during the pandemic, and beyond – what will our ‘new normal’ wardrobes look like?
- Unprecedented times call for unlikely icons, and in 2021 the spotlight shines on author and consummate New Yorker Fran Lebowitz
- With a look that is definitively her own, and has been for 50 years, she embodies all the elements of style in times of coronavirus
Here’s a thought about how we might dress in this year: Fran Lebowitz.
The consummate New Yorker is the subject of the recent Martin Scorsese-directed Netflix series Pretend It’s a City and amid her many quips and aired grievances we can learn a lot about this writer’s style. She has worn the same outfit for 50 years: blazers by Savile Row tailors Anderson & Sheppard, Cuban-heeled boots, Hilditch & Key men’s shirts and Levi’s 501 jeans.
It is a philosophy that resonates with Miuccia Prada, too. As fashion designer Raf Simons said ahead of his and Prada’s co-creative debut for spring/summer 2021, “How Miuccia dresses is very often a kind of uniform one way or another, and that was a direct inspiration for me for the show.” That collection, pared back but with distinct Raf Simons and Miuccia Prada codes, speaks to the sense of versatility in minimalism that feels paramount for how we will be dressing in 2021.
When much of the world went into lockdown in March last year, Amy Smilovic, founder and creative director of Tibi, started sharing styling tips and advice on her Instagram stories. It resonated with her followers in a way that took her somewhat by surprise.
“I was figuring out in real time what people wanted to hear more of and it turns out there is a big white space out there for information on learning about your style and how to communicate it through what you wear,” Smilovic says. “I receive at least three to four letters a day from people not thanking me for helping them select the right top, but letters about how this information has really changed their life, that it’s stimulating their brain, and it’s making them stronger in many aspects of their life. I certainly never imagined this type of outcome.”
Key to Smilovic’s current philosophy is the “creative pragmatist”, someone who has a strong sense of personal style, but with an element of utilitarian practicality mixed in. She plays with proportions and fit, and always knows when to French tuck a shirt or add another layer. Her style is not easy to categorise, but it is distinct and remains unchanged no matter what the situation.
“That ability to retain your sense of self, through your style, whether you are at dinner, work or play is critical because we associate ourselves with how we are put together,” she says. “If our outer self doesn’t speak to who we are, we feel ‘off’.”