JOANNE watkinson
A BRAVE NEW WORLD?
AT THE risk of sounding like the voiceover for a Bruce Willis movie, the world as we know it has changed forever.
Granted some of the changes are temporary, but I for one, am hopeful that some of them will be permanent.
Our renewed gratitude towards the NHS and care workers must never diminish. Despite them assuming the role of superhero whilst at work, we must remember they are normal people, without superhuman powers, doing extraordinary jobs, and it is this that makes them all the more special. Working from home – whilst lock-down has not been without its challenges, logistical and mental, how many of us have benefited from being at home more? No stressful commute in rush-hour, no frantic mornings and, while inevitably enforced family time brings its own trials and tribulations – any one who has spent eight weeks with bored, confused, frustrated kids will concur – I imagine we will look back on the time we spent together with fondness. A time when Mother Nature graced us with perfect spring weather and we were all forced to slow down.
Now the day grows close for us to dust off our civilian clothes and step blinking back into the real world.
Clothes shops are pulling up their shutters ready to welcome back customers at a safe distance, but fashion retail can’t just rev back up to the pace it was running at back in March.
Last week Gucci’s creative director Alessandro Michele told the world’s media that he would no longer be beholden to the demands of the Fashion Week calendar and would, in future, only show twice a year. He also plans to have more “seasonless” collections. This may seem of little importance now, but it could mean a seismic change in fashion for the better. For more than a decade shops have struggled with the collections being delivered out of kilter with the seasons, forcing them to go into sale earlier and earlier (ever tried buying a summer dress in August and been met with a sea of winter coats?).
This pattern was particularly crippling to smaller boutiques.
These changes won’t happen overnight but I believe they are baby step in the right direction.