When one thinks of the word "twenties," there is an automatic glimmer behind the word.
The 1920s: a period full of partying, in the grandest way. Champagne, fringe, glitter, freedom, a drunkenness, inebriation from not only alcohol, but life.
Being in your 20s: 21, a graduation to a new kind of adulthood. The fun kind, the free kind, the independent kind. The same drunkenness, but legal, earned, and anticipated for quite some time. An end to the plan we have followed since we were 3, again, freedom. The next step. And just, fun, like all the movies and TV shows make it seem.
No one talks about growing pains. They sound fake, like a punchline to a teen drama, or fictional coming-of-age.
They are real. They are sad. They are depressing. And I am fully aware those are the same word.
It seems there has always been a coverup for them. Before social media, no one talked about them. After social media, no one dared to make it seem like they were struggling after they graduated high school. Sure, we all have our fun here and there. Of course we do, we are at the age all of our elders tell us they wish they were still at, the age they tell us to "enjoy while it lasts." But I'm sure they, like we might at some point, erased the doom they felt as they started to feel truly lost in world they were put in.
If my 20s were going how I wanted, it would look something like this: I would be living in my New York apartment, with my sweet boyfriend I fell in love with 3 years ago in the beach towns I grew up in. I would have a couple internships under my belt, pursuing my career in fashion and starting the see the world of opportunities in front of me. I may have already worked with some famous names on my mental list of idols I'm destined to meet. I would be on the brink of graduating from my small school in New York, getting a jumpstart on the job market before my peers. My apartment would be decorated with everything I absolutely adored. Colorful, weird trinkets. I would have developed my personal style to the point where I could close my eyes and pick random items and never look bad. I could come home to my two story yellow house on the street corner everyone knew and escape my bustling city life to relax in the suburbs. The beach would be five minutes away whenever I needed it. My parents would greet me with their beaming faces whenever I would walk in the door with my bags. I would've had my 21 summer here, went away for my last four months of school, and then go where ever the wind took me.
That was how it was supposed to go. And if you've read this far, you obviously know that is the complete opposite of what happened.
A few things stayed the same: I don't know how, but I am still graduating college in a few months. Except I have earned a large portion of that degree on the computer. I love the same person I did when I had this plan formulated and did not know that it would never come to fruition. That's about it though.
This is my third week in a row getting a q-tip shoved up my nose (I actually did it myself this time). A good amount of people I know have been sick. I feel like I've been sick since July. My throat has hurt since I left that two story yellow house. I could never quite pinpoint what is was. Allergies, was the excuse I went with.
I've had that same q-tip shoved up my nose more times than I could count on both hands. There are times that it is more of a headache to do that than others. I have a headache most days now.
I live out of a bag. A big pink Vera Bradley duffel bag my cousin once shipped to me from Colorado for my birthday (thanks Eileen). I have no other bag big enough to live out of for a whole week as I move from my mom's condo, my boyfriend's house, and my dad's condo.
My permanent address should be my 2004 Toyota Avalon. I have decorated with zebra print seats and fuzzy dice and surf wax air fresheners to make it feel like home.
The only place where my life is how it was is upon my neck, on my fingers, my ankle, and in my nose and ears. A golden horn hangs from my neck: my mother. A diamond encrusted bee just beneath it: the love of my life. A gold claddagh on my right ring finger, crown up: my father (his late sister, my godmother). A black onyx on my left: my Oma, my mother mother, who lost a fight to the thing that sent me home my sophomore year of college and makes me get q-tips shoved up my nose. A gold chain around my ankle, a sparkling orb hanging from it: my parents, a high school graduation gift. A pair of tiny gold hoops: another gift from the collective that was the people that raised me. A gold hoop through my nose and two diamond studs above the aforementioned: the vim and vigor of a young person being bold, defiant, and independent for the first time.
It is the only place where everything is the same as it was, where everything is together. I carry these with me everyday. I also carry with me the pains of my growth everyday. The pain that things are changing faster than I want them to. The pain that things are changing at all.
This is the pain burned on sight the second we can let go of it. Or maybe it doesn't work like that, we don't know, no one talks about it. And while I would love to be enjoying my twenties like they have been advertised to me, I am being crushed by the pressure of not surmounting to those expectations.
I have never felt so isolated. Apparently, so has everyone else:
Growing pains, like any physical pain, need to be tended to. They need love, care. It also helps when someone has experienced that pain before, so you can compare and contrast symptoms, have someone to empathize with, because they know what you have experienced. Tell me, what are the symptoms of your growing pains?
This piece was supposed to be published in Fordham's Flash Magazine, whose issue was cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Fashion is centered around bending the rules. After all of these years of its existence, you would think that fashion and design have taken all of the bending it can endure. However, the Central Saint Martins MA Class of 2020 says something different. On February 14th, 2020, the art school in London sent 21 collections down the runway that featured the works of selected masters program students who are set to graduate this spring. The show is a collaboration with L'Oréal Professionnel, and has been for 20 years now, and every year the looks are judged. Two of the 21 designers a re then given the L’Oréal Professionnel Creative Award and a recognition for their efforts of sustainability and overall design.
With 100 looks being sent down the runway, the range of the up-and-coming in the fashion world looks extremely promising and boundary-pushing, feeding off of the idea that atypical is the new typical. The collections spanned the spectrum, from menswear to womenswear and subdued to other-worldly. Each designer’s vision and brand were clearly exemplified and unique when held up next to each other. According to Vogue, each designer was given one sentence to describe their vision that was embodied in the individual collections. These statements showed just how much these designers run the gamut:
Paolina Russo, who opened the show, states her collections draws from the idea of, “Awakening from the dream of suburban bliss only to discover a hunger for a life more daring.”
Contrastingly, Jegor Pister went for more simple terms, saying his collection represents “ecstatic glamour in a time of cultural excess.”
Sarah McCormack stated, “In sterile and paranoid times, joyriding on a wave of pleasurable transgression… because I think today, your primal self is really hidden. And this is it, coming out.” McCormack went on to win the show, along with fellow Master’s student Leeann Huang. According to Judge Andrew Davis, “My criteria for judging the award was to try and find something new and original. Techniques and ways of manipulating materials into a finished garment. Both did this in very different ways.”
As stated before, McCormack’s collection showed textiles in raw, intricate form, demonstrating her master craftsmanship and “primal” nature of her collection. Exhibiting the same skills, Huang chose a very different route for her collection. She explains being inspired by her childhood nostalgia, saying “The future seems very bleak to me. Through my research, I was looking at different things that used to make me happy as a child. Mostly through cartoons like ‘The Powerpuff Girls,’ or ‘Charlie’s Angels,’ which painted a very positive feminist future.” The bright colors of Huang’s designs and use of upcycled materials caught the eye of judges, making her the co-recipient of the award.
Fordham’s very own Chloë Felopulos had the honor of seeing these rule-bending collections live on the runway in London. Felopulos, being a Fashion Studies minor, knows what’s what when it comes to runway, and her review of the show promises that the future of fashion knows what they are doing. “[The collections] were examples of pure creativity and young innovation,” says Felopulos. “You could see the working of a developing brand DNA in each collection, I was insanely impressed.”
When asked about how this show gave a peek into the future of fashion, Felopulos seemed extremely hopeful. She says, “The youths promise to deliver strong, new, fun, and rule-breaking fashion into our ever changing world. Everything from styling, to hair and makeup was effortlessly refreshing.”
When bringing the term “atypical” to Chloë’s attention, she instantly connected it to the show. “These collections play a lot with atypical styling,” she recalls. She goes on to list uncommon things seen in the runway show like “large furry hats” and models “holding heels down the runway instead of wearing them.” Upon looking at the collections, it is clear that the list could go on and on with how these designers used the “atypical” in fashion to make their designs stand out.
Coming from someone who likes to push boundaries herself, Felopulos’ comments truly mean that fashion is going in the right direction. It proves that we have a lot to look forward to when it comes to what we see coming down the runway in upcoming years.
“A lot of people also think people dress for men, but it’s just so glaringly obvious we don’t.” This is the response of Madison Wild, a digital fashion content creator, to a TikTok speaking about the female gaze. She interprets this idea of the female gaze through the lens of women and their dress practices. Prior to the obviously annoyed comment above, she explained the phenomenon as such: “...Every time I get dressed, I’m appealing to women. Like, a guy doesn’t care that you’re wearing a new Paloma Wool pant but a girl would notice and be like, ‘Oh she’s probably cool’...And that’s why fashion with women is so diverse and we wear so many different things that we know men aren’t gonna like, but it signals to other girls like ‘Hey, I’m like you or we might have similar interests’” (@madisonxwild).
The female gaze is the lesser known counterpart to the male gaze, one of Laura Mulvey’s film criticism terms theorized in the 70s. While the male gaze objectifies, the female gaze reclaims, and sees the world through her eyes, instead of through the patriarchy’s. This is the exact phenomenon Wild talked about in her TikTok. In today’s digital fashion landscape, it’s surprising that this isn’t talked about more. After all, everyday girls are becoming trendsetting icons overnight just through posting “fit pics” on Instagram. Despite the claims of women dressing and posting to attract male attention, the actual success of this practice of taking outfit pictures originates in and flourishes because of the female gaze.
To understand the link between these concepts, it’s important to define them. The female gaze is academically defined as “The ways in which women and girls look at other females, at males, and at things in the world. This concerns the kinds of looking involved, and how these may be related to identification, objectification, subjectivity, and the performance and construction of gender” (Chandler and Munday). A “fit pic” is a newly coined term of modern Internet culture, and is a play on typical elements of fashion photography. Urban Dictionary is one of the only websites explicitly defining it, saying, “An Instagram photo taken for the sole purpose of showcasing your outfit, often using strong colour coordination for aesthetic purposes and normally the background matches the colour of the outfit” (“Urban Dictionary: Fit Pic”). As you can see, elements like color, aesthetic, and background come into play here, a lot like professional fashion photography. Much like their more formal counterparts, “fit pics” are “images that succeed not just in capturing the specifics of garments and styles, but in immortalizing evocative nuances of gesture, mood and context – provide a tangible legacy of this fluid form of expression,” says Phillipe Garner in “The Celebration of the Fashion Image” (Shinkle and Garner). Nowadays, all you need is an Iphone, the Instagram platform, and a trendy or unique style to make this happen, and gain traction for it. This practice has made accounts grow from 2k, to 15k, to even 50k followers in a matter of months. This exponential growth would not be possible without the presence of women on the platform, for they make up 56.5% of total Instagram users in the US in 2021 (Tankovska). The female gaze, or women’s eyes, works as a cycle in this situation: they see a photo on Instagram that they like or inspires them, they find other girls who feel the same, they bond over shared feelings towards an image, they share the image, and then they convert elements of that image into their own reality.
The explanation of this cycle lies in the breakdown of identity expression and dress practices, which is heavily prevalent in fashion scholar Susan Kaiser’s “Fashion and Culture.” Her theories within this text explain the subconscious practice of women making decisions to wear certain clothing based on how they want to be perceived by others. Kaiser states “...fashioning the body is one of the ways individuals can represent their momentary sense of who they are becoming. These representations through style allow individuals to combine, or move across, their subject positions with a sense of self-awareness and self-expression: processes of subjectivity—the ongoing, changing sense of exploring ‘who I am’ and ‘who I am becoming.’” She uses the term “subject positions” to refer to categories that “organize identities, social relations, and the objects and images that culture produces.” She also defines “subjectivity” as “the agency to assert or articulate one’s own ways of being and becoming” (Kaiser). She explains dress practices as something we do everyday to express a part of our identity, or in this case a subject formation, a term used in place of identity to allude to our ever-changing personas. When you take that expression of one’s subject formation and broadcast it on a public platform for thousands of people to see, a shift happens. Normally, only a handful of people may have seen a certain outfit, a piece of your identity, when walking down the street or being in a restaurant. That number of people multiplies when you post it on Instagram, leaving your identity up for judgement and survey. Cheryl Buckley and Hazel Clark speak of this phenomenon, saying “Fashion parallels everyday life in creating, visually, materially and in writing ‘a reality readily available for scrutiny’” (Buckley & Clark). This scrutiny and judgement can sound negative, but that is without the inclusion of the discussion of the female gaze within fashion imagery on Instagram. While social media and posting has been referred to as unhealthy and addicting in many studies, they are not acknowledging the niche of posting fashion content, especially for women. Fashion content, through the theory of the female gaze, has many positives, including senses of community, empowerment, and inspiration for women involved.
As Madison Wild said in her TikTok, “Fashion with women is so diverse and we wear so many different things that we know men aren’t gonna like, but it signals to other girls like ‘Hey, I’m like you or we might have similar interests’” (@madisonxwild). Women’s agency within their dress practices, with the intent to appeal to other women, is the female gaze in action. Dr. Sarah Chong Kwan details this in her study, which examines the relation between the senses and the dressed body. Through the discussion of the “gaze,” seeing being one of the five sense, she reinforces the narrative of women dressing for themselves and other women, instead of within the standards males impose upon them. Her analyses stem from the works of Iris Marion Young, a political and feminist theorist. She says, “Young, in her seminal essay on women’s embodied experience, considers women’s intimate and emotional relationship with clothing...The exclusive focus on ‘the gaze’ and more specifically a ‘male gaze’ that acts upon women, denies the subjective perspective and agency of women – who are more than passive objects on whom meaning is imposed, but are themselves active agents in the process of meaning making” (Kwan). Due to women’s deep-seeded interest in clothing a representation of their identity, it is reductive to only speak of the male gaze in regards to their dress practices. Doing this denies the woman’s power to exert her identity or “subject formation” through fashion choices. Understanding the absence of the male gaze in the dress practices of women is crucial to the comprehension of “the female gaze” as a real, acting phenomenon in society. The dissection of dress from this feminist perspective is the start to understanding the presence of the female gaze in women’s “fit pics” on digital platforms like Instagram.
Research that combines the female gaze, fashion, and social media is absent from academia. This is shocking due to the increased population of fashion content creators on Instagram and other platforms like TikTok. Natalie Daher’s piece “Instagram’s Female Gaze” in The Week is one of the only works to touch on the concept, incorporating the idea of the influence of women’s eyes on the platform. She notes this lack of research, stating, “What we less often explore, however, are the celebrations of womanhood: the female gaze” (Daher). She goes on to discuss the idea of women doing things to appeal to what other women like and what women see. She makes a direct connection of this phenomenon to Instagram: “Instagram, a social network predicated on users' desire to judge aesthetics, has emerged as the most effective platform for women to safely celebrate, well, women.” As stated before, many like to address the judgement and comparison that result from posting on Instagram. However, like Daher says, women are able to celebrate and cheer each other on when they post visuals on Instagram. The community they feel in this creates a feeling of safety and comfort, as men’s eyes lack in these spaces. “As society re-evaluates masculine entitlement, the female gaze is sharpening,” she says, a truth that is becoming more and more evident as we move away from toxic narratives (Daher).
A note is also taken of Instagram’s ability to generate authentic connections more than other social platforms, due to the choice to accompany images or videos with short or long form commentary. This ability to contribute as much or as little to conversations that are formed through visuals creates a public forum for women to express themselves freely, and therefore put pieces of their personality or identity on the Internet. Daher also deems the visual-sharing app as an empowerment tool for women, referencing the “#MeToo” movement of 2017 as an example of how women used the app and its hashtags to expand the conversation of power abuse and sexual harassment in Hollywood (Daher). It discusses Instagram as a hub of reclamation within female communities, as they start to rewrite their own narrative of how they want to be perceived, slowly breaking down the toxic standards that have been put in place before them. Knowing that visual images and captions can foster this kind of change shows the shifting purpose of these platforms for women. Daher’s personal take on the female gaze and Instagram is the beginning of understanding the role that it plays in “fit pics” and fashion content in the digital hemisphere.
There is a place on Instagram that radiates. It’s colorful, it’s upbeat, it’s lively, and it exudes positivity. It is where the female gaze collides with the utter creativity that fashion contributes to society. The niche of posting “fit pics” in online female communities garners empowerment, community, and so much more. With Susan Kaiser’s analysis of how we express our subject formations, it is refreshing to know there is a place online for women to do so freely, and not under the suppressing male standards. On Instagram, women can wear crazy furry hats, ties, and things otherwise seen as “unappealing” or “ugly” to men, and have a community to embrace their individuality, and celebrate it. Dr. Sara Chong Kwan stresses the importance of women’s agency within their own dress practices, denoting that fit pics and dress practices are not for me, but rather for one’s own expression of self for other women to understand and appreciate. Natalie Daher was right when she said, “It's a flip of the script here that's key. From lifestyle bloggers to art curators to celebrities, these women aren't on Instagram to be looked at or evaluated by men” (Daher). By capitalizing on the female gaze on Instagram through fashion content, women are collectively saying “Our fit pics are not for you!” to the patriarchy, and the overbearing discussion of the presence of the male gaze in art, film, and society. If we teach women the value of their “gaze,” they will learn just how powerful they are.
If you want to check out a deeper dive into the blossoming of a female fashion content creator, check out Local Mogul, a short film by Gwendolyn Attridge about her muse for subjects like these, Chloë Felopulos, whose images are featured within this blog post:
Sources:
Buckley, Cheryl, and Hazel Clark. Fashion and Everyday Life: London and New York. Bloomsbury Publishing, 2017.
Chandler, Daniel, and Rod Munday. “Female Gaze.” Oxford Reference, https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803095814800. Accessed 19 May 2021.
Kaiser, Susan B. Fashion and Cultural Studies. A&C Black, 2013.
Kwan, Sara Chong. “The Ambient Gaze: Sensory Atmosphere and the Dressed Body.” Revisiting the Gaze, Bloomsbury Visual Arts, 2020, http://dx.doi.org/10.5040/9781350154247.ch-003.
@madisonxwild. “#stitch with @heritagin I Loved This Video🥲🥲 #femalegaze #fashiontiktok.” TikTok, https://www.tiktok.com/@madisonxwild/video/6919539014877924614?lang=en&is_copy_url=1&is_from_webapp=v1. Accessed 19 May 2021.
Shinkle, Eugenie, and Phillipe Garner. Fashion as Photograph: Viewing and Reviewing Images of Fashion. I.B.Tauris, 2008.
Tankovska, H. “U.S. Instagram Users by Gender 2021.” Statista, https://www.statista.com/statistics/530498/instagram-users-in-the-us-by-gender/. Accessed 19 May 2021.
“Urban Dictionary: Fit Pic.” Urban Dictionary, https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=fit%20pic. Accessed 19 May 2021.
We have become boxed in...in more ways than one. We are boxed in by the walls of our homes where we spend most of our days now. We are boxed in by the invisible force field we have around us that deters individuals from coming within six feet of us, of course that is if we decide to venture out.
We are also boxed in by the numerous illuminated rectangles that make up so much of our daily lives. Wake up: phone. Eat breakfast: television. Zoom class: laptop. Lunch: television. Break: phone. Homework: laptop. Dinner: television. Bedtime: laptop (for Netflix). Insomnia: phone. All of these have four sides. All of these are boxes.
This quadrangular way of life was not uncommon to us pre-worldwide pandemic. It was there, it took up a lot of our lives, but it just was kind of second-nature, not super noticeable, just “the way things are.” Although we still own and use all of these products multiple times a day, a stark difference has been made visible between these two worlds: an interaction with other outside environments. With businesses closed, and stay-at-home orders in place, we are interacting differently with our technology. And I’m sure your Weekly Screen Report has already told you this.
***
Now, if you have even the tiniest bit of creativity in your body, you can see where this lack of interaction with the outside world could be problematic. A lot of artists get their inspiration from going out, observing the world, and speaking to others. Now if you take someone who expresses their creativity through fashion, well, you can already see where the issue is here. Nowhere to go + no people to see = no real legitimate reason to get dressed. I hope you have checked in on your snappy-dressing friends...they are going through a lot of adjustments right now.
However, to be a member of the fashion community is to be an artist. And to be an artist, you must be creative. While I mentioned the struggle creative people are going through right now, there is also a beautiful metamorphosis going on, inside, none other than, “our box.” Artists, especially in fashion, have always been known to make the most of what they have, and to be crafty problem solvers than can turn a raggedy t-shirt into a to-die-for two piece set. In this day and age, we are lucky, as fashion lovers, to be able to find inspiration at the tap (or scroll) of a finger. While we are lucky to have our endless digital world of inspiration, from Instagram, to Pinterest, to the most recently renowned TikTok, this is about as far as our “box” lets us go when it comes to sharing fashion with the world right now. So, an activity that was so supplementary to a night out (“Ok we have to save time for pictures before the Uber gets here”), has become the only way to communicate our creative expression to the public. And to make things more difficult, there are no bars, clubs, parties, coffee shops, thrift stores, restaurants, beaches, etc., etc., to even take any pictures of an outfit.
THIS is where our crafty instincts come in handy.
I am writing about this from first hand experience. These are observations from a mind that is going through this exact test of fashion sanity. At first, it was nice. As a Taurus, I love my lazy, dress-down days in sweatpants, trust me. But after about a week, I was slowly spiraling from lack of serotonin from dressing up, putting on makeup, and going out. All felt lost in my funky, creative, fashion world that I thrive in. And my endless hours of screen time and the progression of this pandemic only darkened the tunnel. Everyone was inside. Everyone was in sweatpants with no make-up, even my most favorite fashion inspirations. Nothing was exciting. Everyone was in the same boat. And while that is comforting in a sense, it got instantly boring, like, brain-rotting-ly boring (made up words are condoned in this situation). I lost hope, as my once colorful New York life slowly faded to this sickly grey quarantined reality.
And that’s when I saw it, a light at the end of the tunnel. In the shape of, none other than, Miss Bella Hadid herself.
And at that moment, Bella Hadid was deemed queen of the quarantine fashion era. A Facetime photoshoot for Vogue Italia, embracing an at-home team and ditching editorial quality for pure creative genius. Who would have thought this is the content we would be seeing from the most world-renowned fashion publication. And after that, the trend grew, as luxury French brand Jacquemus released the first high fashion campaign fully shot on Facetime, which featured Hadid again and Euphoria star Barbie Ferreira.
Fashion decided to use this box we’re in, this life online, to work with them, not against them. Along with this reinvention of content creation, we’ve also seen some other major turning points in modern fashion, including an announcement from Yves Saint Laurent that they will not be participating in fashion week this year, instead taking
“ownership of its calendar and launch its collections following a plan conceived with an up-to-date perspective, driven by creativity,” as they put it in their Instagram announcement.
Whew, so much change in such a small period. What a time to be alive. Especially when TikTok exists. You can’t not bring it up, it’s probably the main reason why we’re all not totally losing our minds from boredom. And while it gets everyone up and dancing and getting creative with their humor, it also allows for a whole new take on fashion. Trend after trend is emerging from the app, from content creation ideas (hi outdoor mirror pics!) to a look inside some really trendy, but regular, people’s closets, who are just trying to solve their boredom, just like everyone else. I even dressed up for a fashion TikTok myself for my friend Greta, and I have to say, I get the hype. The app itself acts as a source of both creative release and inspiration, for fashion lovers and beyond.
After I shot this TikTok of myself in this outfit that I would much rather be strolling around New York in instead of my room, the inspiration struck. Bella Hadid and Vogue Italia paved the way for at-home, digital fashion creation, and TikTok built off of this idea. Being the Y2K-obsessed individual I am, I opened my Macbook and opened my Photobooth. This was the result:
And that’s when I knew that we were in a whole new realm of fashion content creation. After this realization, I knew I had to confer with my favorite local fashionistas (who I am also lucky to call my friends) about their experiences with adapting to living online in the quarantine era as a fashion-conscious person. I have gathered them to share their thoughts on how they, and their closets, are coping during this weird, uncertain time. Meet Chloë, Maddy, Valerie, Makenzie, and Maddie, starring in their own digital fashion campaigns, shot on their Macbook’s Photobooth:
How have you creatively stimulated yourself, fashion wise, in quarantine?
CHLOË
Chloë: “It was maybe a little blessing in disguise for me. This semester I was at art school as a fashion design major, so thankfully a lot of my school work involves creativity. This keeps me extremely motivated and has worked as an amazing creative outlet! When I’m not working on my brand, collection and sketches for school I’ve been making a ton of mood boards, painting (jeans and canvases) and using my closet as inspo ! You never know what hidden gems you might have in there that you’ve forgotten about!”
MADDY
Maddy: “I’ve been playing dress up and trying new makeup looks constantly just to pass the time. I actually made a little outfit video on my Instagram because I was finding so many fun ways to style my closet while inside! Also, I make a ton of moodboards which really inspire me and make me so excited to get out quarantine so I can throw looks!”
VALERIE
Valerie: “I’ve been online shopping A LOT, which probably isn’t the most financially responsible option, but I’ve been trying to plan what I’m going to wear post-quarantine. I’ve also been prepping a lot of designs for my brand which I’m planning to start making prototypes for.”
MAKENZIE
Makenzie: “I have [been] creating looks from my closet and dressing up. Dressing up and doing fun makeup makes me feel like the world isn’t at a stand still right now. It takes my mind off of everything that’s going on.”
MADDIE
Maddie: “Honestly, TikTok has had a huge impact on how inspired I’ve continued to be towards fashion and creating during quarantine. There’s a lot of amazing quarantine fashion content being made.”
Has this time changed how you view your personal style?
Chloë: “I think it’s made me appreciate it even more...I think being alone with my thoughts more has really helped me accept more of who I am and a big part of that is my own style and philosophy. I’m never going to be those girls in my mood boards but that’s ok. The best decision you can make in your life is to choose to be yourself, unapologetically.”
Maddy: “This time has made me realize how much of my identity is represented in what I wear. I take a lot of pride in my closet and appreciate good clothes and vintage. Fashion is how I keep sane so without dressing up, I’ve definitely found now I want to be bolder than I was style wise post quarantine.”
Valerie: “YES. I’ve had a lot of time to stare at my closet and realize that I’ve outgrown a lot of the pieces I own. I want to minimize the clutter in my closet and fill it with more versatile pieces that I won’t get rid of in a few months. Quality over quantity.”
Makenzie: “With all this given free time we’ve been provided with, it really gave me a great opportunity to experiment with looks that I would usually not wear out! Experimenting with prints and color is functional for all seasons, especially spring!”
Maddie: “ I think it’s given me a great deal of time to rethink how I see my style. Stepping away from the pressure to get ready everyday made me think about what I want to wear or experiment with in the future.”
How have you adjusted to creating content during this time?
Chloë: “It was definitely an adjustment as my room in my family home hasn’t changed in...maybe 5 years. It’s been hard living without my own space I’ve curated in my apartment in NYC, and even more so without the rest of my closet. With that being said I think this has pushed me to be even more creative and to think outside of the box...even if that includes me laying on a bench outside in my front lawn with all my neighbors to see as my mom helps hold up a mirror. Anything for the vision sis!”
Maddy: “Like I said, I made a fashion video and I would love to explore more with making videos about my clothes. Also, using every inch of my front yard as a photo op has been interesting but I think I make it work lol."
Valerie: “A lot of my content is created at home to begin with because my brand is predominantly run by me. I’ve been having a lot of fun experimenting with makeup which is why
I’ve been posting so many selfies lol. The only thing I miss is going to new places for inspiration and better outfit backdrops.”
Makenzie: “ During this time, I’ve been feeling a bit unmotivated. But also, looking at the upside of things, I’ve had a lot more time to be alone with my thoughts and think of ideas to keep myself occupied, like learning to play the piano or reading more books.”
Maddie: “It’s definitely not easy, considering lack of privacy, space, and use of location. But I think it made me a lot more aware of how I can make content in my room with myself, and still be proud of the outcome!”
Do you find yourself more or less inspired during this time? Why?
Chloë: “I think for me having to come home from my semester abroad, I had just been so overstimulated with inspiration that this time has let me pause and let all of that sink in. It’s made me slow down and appreciate the experience I was able to get from the time that I was there. I think this inspiration lingers still and I’m trying to make the most out of it.”
Maddy: “Hmmm...depends on the day. Like on Tiktok or Instagram inspiration pages there is so much saturation of teens posting outfits and there are times where I’m like: ‘Is this outfit actually cute? Or is it just what Madison beer wears? Like....is a crop top and jeans enough for me anymore?’ Idk if that makes sense but yeah.”
Valerie: “I definitely find myself less inspired. I need to be able to experience things in the flesh in order to become truly inspired. Being inspired virtually only works on a superficial level. Being truly inspired requires me to be social and interactive with my environment. Being surrounded by the same things all the time makes me become more and more fixed on the mediocre regularity in my surroundings.”
Makenzie: “I feel a bit less inspired during this time, mostly because I am home in Jersey. When I’m home, I focus more on family and friends. When I’m in New York, I focus on my craft. So it’s been hard to stay motivated.”
Maddie: “I think it’s a great balance of both. I spend time wavering between being inspired and not feeling much at all. It’s definitely important to not expect too much of yourself during these times. Social media becomes a special tool when it’s the only way we can interact and express ourselves.”
How has the lack of going out and wearing outfits affected your viewpoint on fashion/dressing up?
Chloë: “It’s made me look forward to doing it even more now!! I think dressing up is still fun inside and I think a lot of us used to do it that way starting when we were very little. I’m definitely channeling that inner little girl in me now. Being home and with my family has really reminded me of my roots and where my support in becoming who I am now really started. It's reminded me why I loved doing all of this in the first place, from being in my room and deciding to wear a full-on cheetah coat to high school because I can, to my mom and I sharing our favorite pieces we had bought while I was abroad and she was home thrifting and hunting for deals... as we Felopulos girls do!”
Maddy: “I miss it so much. But blasting music in your room and creating tons of outfits out of the clothes you already own can be pretty fun though. I value the art of being in public now...I don’t want to waste time not using fashion as self-expression anymore.”
Valerie: “Fashion is a product of its environment. Many brands are shifting towards comfy-friendly clothes and matching sweat suits are becoming more and more in trend. I think fashion is highly based on circumstance for most people. I still love dressing up at home but I don’t get the same enjoyment out of wearing a leather trench coat in my bedroom versus wearing it to brunch in San Francisco.”
Makenzie: “The lack of going out and wearing outfits affected my viewpoint on dressing up in that, you don’t need to go out to dress up! Getting pretty and wearing a great outfit just to drink a glass of Pinot in my living room has been my brand.”
Maddie: “It made me realize how amazing fashion is. Dressing up and being able to show the world how you feel on the inside with styling is so important! It’s also made me realize sometimes you’re forcing yourself to dress a certain way and life is too short to try hard to fit in.”
Go-to quarantine outfit?
Chloë: “I can’t lie, a good groutfit is what I’ve got on on the reg. Something about gray on gray makes the fit even comfier. Throw on a baseball cap and a trench and you got a look to hit the local Dunkin drive-thru or take the dogs for a lovely social-distancing walk!”
Maddy: “Bare faced, with french braid pigtails, wearing either my Set Active workout set or a bikini. Laying out in the sun is what is making quarantine not feel like I’m trapped.”
Valerie: “Baggy sweats, a crop top, middle part bun, and my crocs that say “#1 bitch” in jibbitz.”
Makenzie: “My go to quarantine fit has been glowy makeup, matching sweatsuit, and cozy slides.”
Maddie: “Obviously sweats, with the occasional dress-up-to-make-myself-feel-better day.”
Looks like these girls have mastered the art of fashion in insolation. If they’re not your queens of quarantine after this, they all have lovely Instagram pages that I’m SURE will convince you. As you can see, there is LOTS going on inside everyone’s walls, well, those of the fashion community. Even with a worldwide pandemic, the grind never stops. Thanks for living in my online world for a sec, now back to your own box!
“FASHION IS THE ARMOR TO SURVIVE THE REALITY OF EVERYDAY LIFE” - Bill Cunningham, American fashion photographer.
