Sol Garcia | THE RIDER
Transforming a regular skirt into a new dress, Roshni Manwani, accounting graduate student, uses fashion to keep herself occupied and to feel good about herself while at home.
“Fashion has the ability to make people feel nice about themselves, and I know with the pandemic, sometimes we forget to do those things,” Manwani said.
From an early age, fashion has been a part of Manwani’s life, whether it was from her mother’s modeling games, studying fashion in school or her own styling. Some of her own creations are a tube dress made from a below-the-knees skirt and crop tops made from an old scarf.
“Just the way you treat the material … it can take different forms,” she said.
Earlier during the pandemic, Manwani used to wear the same outfits every week in the same rotation since she was social distancing at home. Now, she started to dress up.
“I’m making a constant effort to get up in the morning … and try to dress up just the way I would if I was going out,” she said. “That’s what I’m doing to feel good about myself.”
Manwani believes other people can benefit from dressing up as well, even if people are only at home.
“Before [the pandemic], it’s almost like a requirement to dress up to look good for others, because we’re going to work, we need to look presentable, but I think we should start applying that also when we’re not meeting people, because it helps build confidence,” she said. “It helps build your persona.”
Since the pandemic, Manwani has started to use less makeup than she used to. Aside from eyeliner, she avoids makeup to not irritate her skin as she uses a facial covering.
“I still feel very beautiful inside out, without the makeup,” she said. “I really like the fact that I don’t need to wear makeup all the time.”
Other people are also not using as much makeup, Manwani has noticed.
“The minimum that I’ve seen people do is probably eye makeup,” she said. “Some sort of, like, light eyeshadow or eye pencil, but that’s about it.”
This can be explained because the eyes are the most visible area when people wear facial coverings in public, said Sasawan Heingraj, UTRGV instructor and doctoral candidate in the Robert C. Vackar College of Business and Entrepreneurship.
“Mascara, eyebrow and those like eyeshadow … have increased, like, dramatically during the pandemic, because these are the only thing that we can actually show to others,” she said.
As for clothing, Manwani noticed other people dress casually now. Sneakers, flip-flops, shorts or athleisure wear are what she has seen people wearing. However, she has seen people expressing creativity in their facial coverings.
“You see a lot of colors, but I think people are driven more towards patterns, like different designs on their mask,” she said. “From what I see, they do try to match it up to whatever they’re wearing.”
Facial coverings with brand names on them are another popular trend, said Heingraj, who has taught fashion design and pop culture.
“If people are so into [a brand], they tend to purchase those facial coverings that [are] provided by them because they want others to, like, at least notice,” she said.
This can also possibly be explained because people’s representation is through social media, due to social distancing, Heingraj said.
“They tend to represent themselves through the social media, so that might be another reason why most people tend to [purchase] a facial covering that has a logo,” she said.
Other popular trends in fashion are tie dye, animal prints, pajama sets and T-shirts with cut-outs or are oversized, said Monique Jeffery Chapa, co-owner of Shop 112, a McAllen based store.
“I’m definitely seeing a trend with brighter colors and bolder prints,” she said.
Although Shop 112 had to temporarily close its doors due to COVID-19, the store is selling online and observing the latest fashions customers are ordering. It’s also utilizing social media to stay in touch with customers and trends, Chapa said.
“You can cultivate your community,” she said. “You can communicate with them.”
