FASHION CLOSER TO HOME: HOW COVID TURNED INTERIOR DESIGN TO A MORE FRONT-FORWARD FORM OF FASHIONABLE EXPRESSION

The implementation of Covid’s stay-at-home restrictions saw a great impact on our daily routine and purchasing habits. The rise of online shopping encouraged people to reconsider their fashion choices, both through the medium of clothes and interior design. However, have we stopped to consider how much the lockdown changed and influenced our interior fashion choices?

2020 was incomparable to any other year, with the only times we were allowed to leave our homes being for the daily walks and weekly supermarket trips. Therefore, it isn’t surprising when a July 2020 study identifiedthat the percentage of Generation Z taking part in interior design once a week was 20%. This was most likely due to classes and social events being cancelled, which allowed young adults to engage in large-scale creative projects. For that reason, the latest environmental and social situations encouraged redecorating to become a new visual medium enabling us to express ourselves. Modifying the design of your home was used as an opportunity to reflectand portray your personal style and interests. However, the question remains, was this the only predominant factor which inspired us to design our homes? The popularity of video communication platforms grew massively during the pandemic, which provided us with a platform and opportunity to display our rooms. Zoom became the standard way of communication, the platform being used by people of all generations. It made most people conscious of their living spaces and wanting to remodel their homes, even if it was the small act of purchasing new ornaments. Also, with over 1.1 billion monthly active users being recorded on TikTok in 2021, we can presume that the influenceof videography greatly impacted the number of houses which got remodelled. These new social media platforms created opportunities for our room to be presented to others. For teenagers and young adults, the redesign of bedrooms became the focal point for renovations, with apps such as TikTok being a platform to inspire and inform viewers on the best purchases to ensure that their bedroom is regarded as ‘aesthetic’. With the pandemic leaving people to just sit and scroll on their phones, it encouraged comparisons to be made between themselves and others.

As the number of people shopping for clothing decreased, people focused on redesigning their homes instead. During the pandemic, studies showed that there was a 23% increase in household planning applications in 2020 from 2019. This reaffirms the fact that during lockdown, society regarded the remodelling of houses as a positive way of self-expression, which gave individuals an opportunity to reflect on their new sense of styling. For example, the rise of sporting goods purchases became an easy way to express your hobbies and your lifestyle, in addition, to portraying a healthy image of yourself. Also, for Generation Z, the rise of Y2K fashion impacted how young people designed their room. Bedrooms became brightly coloured through the arrangement of wall photo collages and abstract-shaped items, and a creative way of self-expression. Consequently, what do we believe will be the future of interior design post-pandemic? Will it be associated with allowing individuals to positively communicate individuality? Personally, I believe that interior design will never have such a strong influence on society as it did during lockdown. This is due to people not having anything to do, encouraging people to achieve these housing renovations which they have been wishing to do during the period of quarantine. Therefore, it is clear to hypothesize that Covid turned interior design into a more front-forward form of fashionable expression.

Words by Nicola Mayo Design by Ananya Ranjit