Recently I wrote about the impact the pandemic has had on cultivating and maintaining personal style. After all, who needs style when you’re home bound? Getting dressed in anything other than pyjamas seems excessive and with only the kettle and dog for companion, redundant.
The function of clothing beyond just that of modesty, has become insignificant. Yet despite dressing in sameness for much of last year, it has been as a consequence of the virus, as opposed to a conscious decision to affect change to my aesthetic. And so, as the new year begins, it’s got me to wondering if my hiatus of personal style can be reawakened through one choice item; the statement trousers.
Making a statement with any item of clothing has not been a priority of late. Rather the defining characteristic of this year has been comfort to compensate largely for the discomfort of circumstance. However, this has quickly become misappropriated as sartorial boredom. Whilst being comfortable is undeniably important, need that mean a desertion of style?
Remaining predominantly indoors has meant that jeans are now considered ‘dressing up’, with most opting for stretchy items for day-to-day wear to allow for the stasis of lockdown life. Whilst these types of trousers are not in themselves boring, 10 months later the subsequent same outfits have become boring, and not even accessories can revive them.
Who has the inclination to finesse an outfit of fleece and spandex with accoutrements of any kind, anyway? Shoes are made redundant in favour of socks, the practical need of a handbag is removed completely and jewellery rotation is a rarity as favourites remain as if etched on to skin.
My reluctance to shed loungewear is further impeded by the predominant means of communication being over video conference. Thus outfits have been curated to fit within the parameters of a zoom call, which do not include ones bottom half. Waist up dressing has essentially made the aesthetics of trousers defunct. Rather they are purely practical, allowing for much sitting down and the occasional walk to the fridge.
Whilst a simple change of top would bring about the variety that this year’s outfits have thus far lacked, my personal style is irrevocably tempered when coupled with my choice array of elasticated trousers. A crisp white shirt paired with pyjama bottoms, a ruffled blouse and sweatpants; professional up top, slob down below, all unbeknownst to anyone but the postman.
Even if an ounce of personal style did manage to seep through, the necessity of a coat consequently envelops outfits whole, thus muffling any burgeoning style statement that may or may not have been made. However, the under appreciated canvases that are left exposed, are the legs, and thus, whatever the wearer decides to clad them in.
I therefore decided to substitute sartorial boredom in favour of statement trousers. So I began - tentatively at first - with the purchase (secondhand on eBay) of a pair of two tone Levis jeans; one leg white, one leg pale blue. Next, I rediscovered a long forgotten pair of white trousers replete with pastel hued stripes, and lastly, as the wont to embrace some kind of festive cheer became like an unshakable need to say eff you to 2020, I bought a pair of red, sequinned trousers (again from eBay).
It soon became clear that the finding of a statement trouser was not the difficulty, rather it was how to adopt the statement to fit with ones personal style. All were ‘not your average’ trousers and thusly, all made a statement, but what made them wearable was their relaxed silhouettes.
The Levi’s jeans were a classic straight leg cut that balanced the quirkiness of the two tone colourway; the cropped, oversized fit of the striped trousers, meant that they had a casualness befitting indoor living; and the loose-fit tailoring of the sequin trousers made them just as apropos for lazy days as it does for when socialising broadens to that of outside the home.
Ultimately the statement trousers are a reminder that comfort dressing needn’t mean sartorial stagnation and dressing up doesn’t have to denote discomfort. As staying in becomes the new going out, the biggest sartorial statement of all is to counter the bleakest of times with the vibrancy of personal style. And I suggest starting with the trousers.
Photos via: whowhatwear.co.uk, teenvogue.com, @meganellaby, @mariannetheordorsen, styledumonde.com & glamour.es
