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Alicia Kennedy in San Juan, Puerto Rico, on Jan. 8, 2022. (Gabriella N. Báez/The New York Times)
The word “belly button” wasn’t in Laken Brooks’s vocabulary before March 2020. However, months of working from home at the start of the pandemic gave the 27-year-old doctoral candidate an opportunity to reevaluate her wardrobe options.
So when the opportunity presented itself for a cropped, short-sleeved, charcoal gray t-shirt with images of wildflowers across the chest, he jumped at it. While for many people fashion has been a secondary concern at best during the pandemic, there are those, like Brooks, who have discovered their personal style.
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Laken Brooks poses near her home in Gainesville, Fla., on Jan. 15, 2021. (Eve Edelheit/The New York Times)
Before the pandemic, Brooks wore mostly business casual to teach her students at the University of Florida in Gainesville. A couple of weeks into working from home, she decided to step out of her comfort zone and order a pair of leggings, having earlier given them up as feeling too unprofessional.
She realized that she did not feel safe in her clothes from her pre-lockdown life. Brooks has health problems that cause intense swelling, but in order to look more professional he wore clothes that were uncomfortable for him.
“I was just trying to ignore what I was wearing and focus on my work,” he said.
While tights were comfortable when she was teaching from her desk at home, they were also a significant step in her style journey. This seemingly small act “made me feel comfortable with my body for the first time,” Brooks noted.
style alone
With the structures of pre-pandemic life removed, Amelia Crook, 43, a mother of two, felt compelled to rediscover her style just over a year following the first major lockdown. With a professional background in technology and an affinity for the connecting powers of TikTok, Crook, who lives in Kyneton, Australia, posted her first video in May 2021. It was a prayer: “Hello, I’m Amelia, I’m 42 years old and I’ve lost my personal style. And I need you to help me find it.”
“I used to buy clothes to fit in,” Crook said in a Zoom interview. “That was a big revelation for me. It was like saying, ‘I have my work wardrobe, I have my mom wardrobe, and these are the acceptable things to wear.’” Although before the pandemic she didn’t necessarily dislike her clothes, she realized that she dressed for others.
With the help of her 127,000 followers, Crook honed her style into one she describes as “structured with a feminine whimsy.” In her videos, Crook tries on outfits made up of items from her closet and new purchases (she likes thrift stores like Depop) and tries on makeup and jewelry while receiving feedback from her followers.
When Crook visited her new clothes, it was with a better understanding of what clothes make her feel good.
“I have a more refined vision of how I want to show myself in the world,” he said.
Dress to be cheerful
Wanting to feel better is why 25-year-old Sara Camposarcone embraced her taste for maximalist fashion. Before the pandemic, he worked in a sales position at a technology company in Toronto, where he dressed in traditional office clothes and was unable to show off his creative skills through style.
Wearing pajamas every day at the start of the pandemic made Camposarcone sad, so he decided to go for an over-the-top aesthetic even if he wasn’t going to do anything. Before the pandemic, her clothing was mostly black and her style focused on trends, she said.
Now use vibrant colors, layers and textures. One of his favorite outfits, for example, is a yellow suit outfit with shorts. She wears it with a puppy print blouse and matching vest over a jacket.
“Then I also had a bag that matched the puppy print.
It was a complete puppy outfit. I felt really good,” Camposarcone said. “I would probably wear that outfit a million times more because it was too good.” She buys a lot of second-hand items and describes herself as a sustainable maximalist.
dressing for the camera
It wasn’t all puppy shirts and kitty bags when it came to finding style during the pandemic. For some, it was as simple as streamlining their style. Alicia Kennedy, 36, a food writer living in San Juan, Puerto Rico, felt more visible than ever when the pandemic took hold. Instead of phone calls, people suddenly wanted to meet on Zoom. She was also new to San Juan and wanted to create a visual identity for herself. She began investing in pieces from sustainable designers like Mara Hoffman and Puerto Rican brands like Luca and Muns.
Kennedy’s style evolved from chunky boots and crop tops to oversized white button-down shirts and biker shorts for his work-from-home uniform. When she’s not wearing that, she’ll likely find herself in a plain dress or puffy shirt.
“I’m more interested in simple silhouettes and really adaptable things,” Kennedy said.
When the world was in chaos, Kennedy found structure in her outfits even when working from home.
“The idea that I had to get up every day and work, even if everything was unpredictable and strange, meant that I needed more of an identity through what I was wearing,” she said. “Besides, it’s an easy time to get absolutely careless. So it was kind of a conscious choice not to do it.”
