If 2020 was the year we all realized we all threw fashion to the wind in favor of comfort, then 2021 was the year we tried to course correct it. Clothing sales rose 25% percent, people started going out and wearing outfits again, and some people panicked-cleaned out their entire closets in favor of an all new wardrobe. I was somewhere in between, trying to come to terms with a new world and a closet that didn't feel like me anymore while also trying to wear the clothing I owned instead of always buying new. I did get a couple of things – I talked about my newfound love of running and subsequent sneaker purchase here – but for the most part, I just looked at a lot of clothing hanging in my closet and shrugged. I quite literally have about a dozen dresses that haven't seen the light of day since 2019. Writing that sentence makes me feel a little ill.
I'll give myself a little more time, though, and space to think through what that means for me. I believe we all deserve it after what's happened since 2020. If starting this newsletter and finishing my book taught me anything about fashion, it's that the problems are not happening in one little silo of my unworn clothes; they are all over the industry, affecting every single person in one way or another, whether they like fashion or not. How can we fix the ecosystem of the fashion industry that leads to overconsumption, waste, and labor problems? It's a question I'll continue to try and answer as we head into a new year. For now, though, I wanted to give a shortlist of some of the stories I wrote on This Stuff in 2021 that I hope contributed to some sort of collective understanding of how fashion impacts the world.
