6 months ago we would have never thought that we’d be here, but here we are. Without even giving it a thought, everything suddenly changed. A world moving so fast had to suddenly slow down. Breaking out in December and seeing a rapid spread in months that followed, we found ourselves having to hide in our homes.
With research still being conducted as to were this virus came from exactly, we find ourselves having to adjust to a new way of functioning. Suddenly our flow of life is interrupted. Masks and protective gear are now the new trend, a “must have”. A shift in the atmosphere.
A bittersweet moment, a term I use loosely based on the fact that most of it was bitter. The sweet side is that we have seen the value of life over material things. The world was moving too fast and to keep up we found ourselves subconsciously selling our souls. What happens now?
Looking at the creative industry, the fashion industry to be specific. Which I believe to some degree is a reflection of other, if not most industries. We were always looking at the next best thing, “which we never found” because we never took time to appreciate and value what we had at that moment. You buy something today, you wear it tomorrow, the following day it’s on to the next thing. It’s equivalent to the fast food chain. Hence we find ourselves with so much waste. That being one of the major contributors around the issue of sustainability in the fashion industry.
Post pandemic, I believe, we’ll see a shift in the way that the world functions. Social distancing and protection being a norm, we are going to see two things come into play unity as well as exclusivity.
Unity in terms of quote unquote “working together” in adjusting to a new norm. Exclusivity coming into play twice as much by placing sanctions on a number of things. For example, with current observations, social gatherings will have a limit of a number of people who can attend with the ratio of space being occupied for a specific event or social gathering.
That will in turn have a ripple effect meaning that everything now will have to be more detailed. Meaning that we have to slow down and look at the value of everything. So, something like fashion will be an investment rather than a fad. We’ll probably see a downsizing in fast fashion and a rise in quote unquote “bespoke” fashion.
We need to take care of ourselves, value our creativity and freedom, appreciate our God given talents and most importantly stay healthy.
image credit: WGSN
– Mpumelelo Dhlamini
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