Over the past few fashion seasons, we have obsessed over midi skirt lengths and shoe ties wrapped over trouser legs.
We have fallen for enormous sneakers and square-toed sandals. We have even sported vastly oversized bags and trailed acres of fringe. But in a Zoom app-focused Covid-19 world, none of that matters. Why? Because no one can see it.
Seen through the rectangle of a laptop screen, we are reduced to torsos, nay, just shoulders most of the time. We do have the added bonus of tantalising glimpses of each other's houses, but no one can see if your dress is maxi, or that you are transitioning back to knee length. The world is unmoved by the fact your prairie dress tiers down perfectly or that it is hemmed with charming broderie anglaise.
Unless you are dancing pirouettes on the table (unlikely during a work Zoom call), all anyone can see of you is your top half. And just like that, the fashion focus has shifted to the torso.
Cropped off at the waist, now what you choose to wear on top half is important, and little details become big statements.
On a recent Zoom chat, I realised too late that the delicate straps of my dress looked invisible, making it seem as if I had not bothered putting on anything at all.
Or how about the men around the world attending work Zoom meetings wearing vests? A bold, misguided move.
Now the nuances are in the neckline, the cut of the shoulder and the patterns. This may sound vain in these days of a global pandemic, and that is because it is. But remember, fashion is how we choose to present ourselves to the world.
What we decide to wear every morning, projects an image of who we are, or at least, how we wish to be seen. While it may seem frivolous to pander to the sartorial etiquette of meetings, a touch of frivolity might be just what some of us need right now.
Perhaps see it as time to experiment with how to wear that one tricky piece you have not quite mastered yet. Enjoy layering necklaces and scarves over, under and around collared shirts, and wearing tops with different necklines over each other. Dig out your pie crust collared tops and wear them with different jackets. Pile on every necklace you own, or like Stella McCartney, opt for the underrated wonder that is the power earring: huge, sculptural shapes that hang down to the shoulders.
Take this pause to reinvent your best self, your fashion doyenne, your stylish alter ego and take solace in these simple pleasures.
And as the world works to unfold and put things back to how they were, you can continue to have the time of your life getting dressed to the nines, even if only from the waist up.
