How COVID-19 redefined Gen Z’s style

The pandemic was a time for self-reflection, most importantly on one’s sense of style. Collage by DANIEL PEARSON, Staff Photographer

When Panna Warren, a junior creative producing major, was a freshman during the pandemic, she had a lot of extra time to sit on the couch in her sweatpants while observing and incorporating new trends into her style. Pre-pandemic, she would have worn a white tank-top with jeans combo, but she now had the opportunity to redefine her style as more bold and colorful. 

In 2019, generation Z, known affectionately as “Gen Zers,” were still living off trends millennials had left behind, from mom jeans to band tees — essentially just evolving their highschool VSCO aesthetics into something a bit more sophisticated for college. Now, their closets are packed with all things TikTok-inspired from color to comfort. They are still the same generation, but how did their style change so drastically in such a short amount of time?

Valeria Izquierdl, manager of Nectar clothing store located in the heart of the Orange Circle, reflected on the revolutionary consequences of the pandemic on fashion and how it redefined the style of an entire generation. She said prior to the pandemic, Gen Zers played it safe when it came to colors and patterns.

“The other day, some girl wore this really acid colored pattern shirt, and I was like, ‘If we were in high school, no one would be wearing that,’” Lankard said.

When the pandemic hit, people took advantage of the opportunity to lounge around in athleisure wear while on Zoom calls. Warren admitted she went through remote sorority recruitment dressed in formal attire  from the waist up, accompanied by sweatpants and UGG slippers on her lower half. 

“You can only get so ready to be on a Zoom camera,” Warren said. 

According to Izquierdl, Nectar barely sold any jeans during the pandemic, while tie dye sweat sets and comfortable shirts were flying off the racks.

“Anything uncomfortable was not selling because everyone was at home working, but I think now it’s changing a lot.,” Izquierdl said. “Everyone wants to start dressing up again since we can kind of go out now.” 

For Troy Lankard, who is also a  junior creative producing major, the pandemic gave him time to figure out who he was, and more specifically figure out his sexuality. After coming out in May 2020 he felt like he was able to play around with fashion more since he had a better sense of who he was. 

“I feel like just being given time to think of who you are …  it was kind of the blessing in disguise of quarantine,” Lankard said. “I hope a lot of people coming out of quarantine, going back to school and going back to work are going into this new phase of reality with a better sense of self and who they are.”

In 2020, a new source of inspiration for home dwellers was on the rise: Tik Tok. Lankard said one TikTok video in particular, in which a man was demonstrating poses guys can do for photoshoots, really inspired him. Lankard said it was uplifting to see a guy getting dressed up in his room in fun street style outfits.

Warren told The Panther he attributes Gen Z’s rapid and drastic change in style during the pandemic to the overwhelming number of  people using Tik Tok. With nothing to do and nowhere to go, the electric outfits reminiscent of the early 2000s displayed on Tik Tok gave people a way to escape their dreary quarantine days. 

“I don't know any trends that are really going on right now,” Warren said. “In quarantine, … (I would just) go on TikTok and see something, and I would be like ‘Oh my god, that's great, I’m going to buy it so that I feel happy right now because I'm locked in my house.’”

Izquierdl said TikTok even dictated what Nectar carried. She would see something cute on TikTok, and within two weeks, Nectar would be carrying it. 

“Like the cow print trend — it was on TikTok and Instagram, and we literally had it, and it sold out so fast,” Izquierdl said. “Then, the next week, it's not ‘in’ anymore.”

Tik Tok’s saturated feed  created several trends in such a short amount of time, leading styles to change faster than ever. Although this inspired people, it also pressured people to keep up with the trends and evolve with them.

Warren said that since people were cooped up inside for a year and half, there was an added pressure to come out the other side of the pandemic as a changed person. 

“Everyone wants to be like ‘No, look I'm different, I changed, I’m a new person,’” Warren said. “So, one way I feel like people are doing that is through being able to express themselves with clothes.”