The COVID-19 pandemic five years on: Material memories of pandemic dressing

The COVID-19 pandemic precipitated unprecedented transformations in global dressing practices, reconfiguring the cultural, political and economic frameworks within which clothing operates. This Special Issue of Fashion, Style & Popular Culture interrogates the sartorial shifts that emerged during the pandemic and their enduring legacies. Bringing together twelve research articles, a visual essay and an interview, ‘Dressing through Pandemics’ examines how dress functioned simultaneously as protective technology, sociopolitical symbol, ethical statement and site of creative adaptation. Central to these dynamics was the face mask, which evolved from clinical personal protective equipment to contested emblem of care, compliance or defiance and into an object of aesthetic innovation and branding. The Special Issue contributors adopt diverse disciplinary perspectives including fashion theory, psychology, cultural studies, material culture and consumer behaviour to analyse pandemic dressing across diverse geographies and contexts. Case studies explore the politicization and aestheticization of masks in North America, Europe and Africa; the psychological and emotional dimensions of pandemic self-presentation; and the acceleration of DIY and craft-based fashion practices. Further contributions address shifts in retail landscapes, digital consumption and sustainability discourses, revealing how pandemic conditions reshaped consumer values and expectations of authenticity. By situating clothing within the broader material and symbolic economies of pandemic life, this collection demonstrates that dress was not a peripheral concern but a central medium through which individuals and communities navigated crisis, expressed identity and imagined futures. Five years on, the legacies of pandemic dressing remain visible in heightened sensitivity to protective dress, increased integration of digital retail and a recalibration of fashion’s relationship to care, resilience and social belonging. ‘Dressing through Pandemics’ affirms the critical importance of clothing as both an embodied practice and a cultural artefact in times of global disruption.