RADAR: FASHION, COVID-19 AND THE NEW HEROES
The good news is that, in this month’s Style Pages, RADAR spotlights the feel-good stuff pertaining to our current pandemic crisis. Along with the full gratitude we all have for our frontline heroes we are proud of the way fashion has mobilized for global relief. In dark times, we have come to cherish the self-isolation survival videos, humorous stay at home moments and virtual connections the internet and social media offer. Let’s take an anxiety break and count our blessings with this recap of some of the finer moments from the past several weeks.
As We ‘Social Distance’ Ourselves & Wear Face Masks For Protection.
Tearsheet designed by Alison Hernon.
FASHION TO THE RESCUE
We love fashion for so many reasons, but its inspiring to see how the fashion world has stepped up with an immediate response from brands and designers offering their own resources to meet the growing medical need for personal protective equipment (PPE) and the emergence of large donations to increase efforts. The list of hero brands active in the COVID-19 fight is fortunately quite lengthy and growing by the day globally. In the past month, we have seen Prada donated six intensive care units to three of Milan’s major hospitals, Christian Siriano making thousands of masks in his atelier, H&M donated $500,000 USD to the World Health Organization, Gucci provided surgical masks and medical overalls along with a 2.2 million donation, Ralph Lauren pledged $10 million to coronavirus relief efforts, Pyer Moss formed Your Friends in New York and set aside $50,000 to obtain N95 masks and medical supplies for distribution to local hospitals. The list goes on and includes names like Sandro, Canada Goose, GAP inc, MCM, Armani, Versace, and Chanel. In truth, this is only a shortlist of how truly active and aggressive the fashion industry is in the effort for COVID-19 relief. Anna Wintour recently wrote a joyous piece outlining some of the major efforts from designers and brands around the world. It is a comforting read from the Queen herself. Vogue and the Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA) have repurposed the Fashion Fund to provide support to the American fashion community affected by COVID-19 and in efforts to promote raising funds they have launched a storytelling initiative called A Common Thread generating stories on how the fashion community is coping. Giving is a text away by sending THREAD to 44-321.
The good news continues as the increasingly massive unified effort from the global fashion industry continues inspiring many to contribute at any level. Almost every day on social media I witness a new person with access to sewing machines and materials posting photos of the masks they are creating for medical caretakers. Talk about warm feelings! I even watched a video the other day on how to turn a bra into a mask for what may currently be the most relevant DIY of our present times. Turns out fashion does save lives!
Pro Self-Isolation Fashion Tip: With so many online fashion courses and classes slashing prices due to the Coronavirus, NOW is the time to take that formally pricey virtual fashion class you’ve been dreaming of!
From left to right:
1. @pyermoss: Started 2 different initiatives in response to the spread of COVID-19.
2. @gucci: Supports the World Heather Organization @who with a message on COVID-19.
3. @csiriano: “Melanie tin our office has us up to 600 masks a day and that will be 3,000 just this week!”
4. @tsvetyfashion: “Made all face mask to ship to the @trystitchroom project providing to medical care workers.”
CELEBS TO THE RESCUE
After days of sheltering in place and self-isolation, it’s so easy to slip into a list of complaints, followed by instant guilt for said complaints. Praise break: Thank you so much to all the essential workers, medical and health care workers and every single person on the frontline of this invisible war. We are so abundantly grateful for you! When we begin to show signs of being stir crazy, it’s been so nice to scroll through social media and see clever meme’s (my favorite being ‘I just finished Netflix’), hilarious stay-at-home routines and other brilliantly witty approaches to our new normal. In the midst of it all, this has allowed us to see the best off duty moments from some of our favorite celebs and music stars riddled with reminders that we are equally in this together and giving us the motivation to keep a stiff upper lip. My personal go-to motivator (and based on the numbers EVERYONE’s go-to), Club Quarantine hosted by DJ D-Nice. This self-isolation hero has not only been a lifesaver but a life-giver. His infectious energy and impeccable music selection alone are enough to save the day, but his long list of celebrity viewers like Naomi Campbell, Michelle Obama, Rihanna, and Oprah, is a super cool cherry on top. Erykah Badu giving us every song we asked for in her Apocalypse One boudoir virtual concert, Demi Levato sharing with her followers images from a virtual photoshoot created on Facetime stating, “when the world shuts down and you gotta stay safe, you also gotta get creative!” and the adored Balmain designer Olivier Rousteing spending hours answering fan questions on IG live!
Need to give yourself a haircut? Celeb hairstylist Jen Atkin shot a video on IGTV with a guide on ‘How to Cut Your Own Hair’ saving many of us from our own kitchen beautician failures. The latest comedian/actor to go viral is Leslie Jordan giving us all a good laugh with his “it’s still March” videos of self-isolation woes. Every day there is a new surprise with some of the best celebrity names taking to social media and sharing their self-iso tips, laughs, and life, which is looking not tremendously different from ours at this moment. This virus has indeed been “the great equalizer” to quote a controversial rant by Madonna soaking in a floral-filled bath. Honestly, IG Live has never been so good!
#WFH AND VIRTUAL CONNECTIONS TO THE RESCUE
It’s not just celebs who are taking to social media to entertain and share in coping with self-isolation. Just look around you! So many of your friends, neighbors, and people in your personal circles are putting out great content and sharing in the relief that together we are all just figuring this out as we go along. My personal journey typically involves a daily dance party, meditation which gets lengthier as the days pass, obsessive Yoga compulsion (if anything I have perfected Savasana aka corpse pose), and putting on what I call “a lip, a line and a lash’ just to walk around the house. Yep! I even bought good drugstore brands so that I don’t burn through my best stuff. I just don’t want to pass my reflection in the mirror and see a mythical creature. Our virtual socializing has in some way reconnected us to what it feels like to have no distractions or thought of being ‘busy’. We are giving each other great guides to music and TV (because how many of us watched Netflix’s Tiger King mainly because of the comments from our friends on social media). As s side note, I think Joe Exotic has inadvertently become the next fashion icon.
When we are not virtually comforting each other some of us are blessed to be working from home, which, in turn, has given us one of the best fashion gifts during this crisis. The #WFH outfit ensembles have been iconic. Check out the Insta account WFHFITS for some of the best recaps of looks, and you can even join the fun and submit your own via DM. Another personal favorite is street style photog and fashion writer (All The Pretty Birds) Tamu Mcpherson’s #prettylockdown style selfies filled with outfit inspirations. Fashion lovers, you will not be disappointed!
From Left To Right:
1. @tamumcpherson
2-4. @wfhfits
Wishing everyone good health and peace during these difficult times. Let’s not forget to count our blessing and share good news. If you hit a shelter-at-home rut, send a Marco Polo to friends, bless the world with your best TikTok choreography, Zoom a coffee date, Share your funny memes or watch a fun celeb or influencer go ‘live’. Stay home, healthy and (virtually) social!
Story by Ayoka Lucas, Fashion Editor, PhotoBook Magazine.
Instagram: @ayokalu
