Dr. Robi Ludwig: Fashion Trends as a Healing Tool

Dr. Robi Ludwig

“Fashion trends can be used as a healing tool to activate the feel-good chemicals in our brains.”

What will fashion look like

in our post pandemic

world? Even as a young child, I remember having an appreciation for fashion. My mother, Helene, a lover of the arts, enjoyed expressing her inner fashionista talents by styling her three young girls. Helene effortlessly would sew hip 70s outfits for both herself as well as my sisters and me.

Our clothes were matching and colorful. Sometimes, because of these matching ensembles, strangers would ask if we were a professional singing group. We always found this quite humorous since no one in our family sings particularly well.

The attention my sisters and I got for having perfectly coiffed hair and dressing alike was always such a positive and yet surprisingly unexpected experience. It’s probably safe to say my unique childhood experience was my first initiation to the runway of life and the impact clothes could have on both the individual and those around them. Since those early years, I have been through many different style incarnations. Each fashion moment reflects a special moment in my life and the world around me.

So, it is befitting that on a recent fashion shoot in New York City, shot by award-winning fashion photographer Neil Tandy, I would look at this dress-up experience through multiple lenses, both personal and psychological.

Together with stylist Heba Abadin, the chosen outfits were a nod to a world that is opening up—fashion focus that will celebrate life as our quarantine restrictions are lifted. My clothes would now represent a new seasonal chapter, symbolically making up for lost time.

The history behind what is happening around us has always had a significant impact on fashion, including what we wear and how we choose to express ourselves.

The year 2020 has often been described as the lost year. For many, the global lockdowns and social isolation encouraged a collective

Fashion Trends Can Be Used As a Healing Tool

depression and loss of motivation. What was the point of dressing up or presenting well? There was so little to look forward to, no one to impress or activities to enjoy. This lack of enthusiasm took a toll on our appearances as well as how we experienced our lives.

I know my leggings took on a whole new meaning during quarantine, as did my pajamas. If it wasn’t comfortable, it wasn’t happening. More and more people were experiencing, in real time, how clothes can play a significant role in influencing our moods, our outlook on life and our personalities.

From a psychoanalytic perspective, our clothes take on many different meanings for us. Even Freud, the Father of Psychoanalysis, had something to say about fashion:

“Not even the most intelligent woman is free of the dictates of fashion…”

Our fashion choices give life to the different facets of our personalities. Fashion allows us to simultaneously tap into who we are and who we want to be. Our outfits also reflect how we want to feel and be seen in the world.

Clothing is a communicative language speaking for us before we say a word; it is a self-expressive tool allowing us to reveal and conceal various aspects of ourselves. Both fashion and therapy disclose a transformational language which allows us to convey our ever-evolving personalities.

In the space of our private dressing rooms, we reflect on that image in the mirror, trying to create an artistic vision of how we want to be experienced and show up in the world. When our best or idealized self is in harmony with what we see, there is a sense of pride and a feeling that all is good.

Since most of us have spent the last year behind masks and socially distancing, this new fashion chapter might cause an identity crisis, which forces us to ask ourselves, “Who are we now after spending so much time partially dressed up for virtual encounters during an extremely on-line year?

Now, as we enter a new fashion phase, we may be asking ourselves, “What do I wear now?” and “Can our PJs become a new fashion trend?” Our collective fashion identities might need a bit of experimenting to perk ourselves up again.”

It will be interesting to see if history repeats itself. Some historians believe the 1920s stunning fashion styles were a conscious or unconscious reaction to surviving the 1918 Spanish Flu Pandemic. People during that time wanted to embrace a Carpe diem, “seize the moment,” attitude and “live for today” mentality, which was reflected in the Roaring Twenties’ glittering and playful styles. Fashion helped create the necessary boundary between living a scary, dystopian existence to a life welcoming a more lighthearted outlook.

Will our modern day, post-pandemic culture embrace a similar type of aesthetic transition? I suppose we will have to wait and see. But I do believe the cultural fashion message of the moment will underscore a fancy, feel good dressing, allowing us to step into life in a bigger, more impactful way. My prediction is there will be themes of pretty, flowing, and colorful pieces used to signify that we are entering into a more hopeful, optimistic, and socially connected time.

The global pandemic has changed us all. We have become more aware, more empathic, and more appreciative of the importance of our social connectedness. Reentering a world that will now be seen through altered eyes, allowing every day to be experienced with a fresh wonder and appreciation.

Just getting dressed and going out becomes a special occasion. We no longer need to wait for the big events or parties to celebrate or show ourselves to the world. Putting on our forgotten high heels and walking into a new, more welcoming world will now feel more exciting and modern.

Fashion will combine comfort with a dash of the decorative. A sense of freedom will be reflected in our clothes revealing deliberation and carefully curated wonder. A feeling of fun and enjoyment will be re-introduced to our style to counterbalance a long, dark year. And our comfortable clothes, will allow us to kiss, hug, and show how much we mean to each other.

Fashion trends can be used as a healing tool to activate the feel-good chemicals in our brains, put extra pep in our step, and to remind us, that the best is yet to come.

Photography by Neil Tandy HMUA: Jade Voight Stylist: Heba Abedin Fashion Provided by: Ramy Brooke Silver Shoes: Aldo

“Now, as we enter a new fashion phase, we may be asking ourselves, what do I wear now?”