Heatwave uniform
How the climate crisis will affect our fashion choices
There was a heatwave across Northeastern US and Canada in September of last year. I was thankfully staying with family close to North Bay (Ontario) but the brutal heat and wildfire warnings made it nearly impossible to do anything except sit in the shade. My clothing choices were a bit bleak at the time — wearing the same track shorts and cami for days on end. However: When I was watching a Mina Le video and she said that she was doing the exact same thing while surviving her summer in NYC (and this was before she announced she was a bit done with fashion and opting for a capsule wardrobe) — saying that she couldn’t bear to get on the subway in anything but Adidas track shorts because it was just too hot.
This made me think about how the most heatwave-friendly items became an our favorite (pinnable) trends last year. Items that I wouldn’t necessarily consider Capital-F fashion (you wouldn't catch the real fashion-y ladies of Paris or Milan in an Adidas track capri), but they continue to grace our Pinterest boards and Instagram feeds as a Fashion Moment nevertheless. Track shorts or capris, flip-flops, paired with a mismatched flowy white blouses or layered white camis tended to be the uniform of last summer.
With this, it made me think about:
How will our choices in the US, Canada, and Europe evolve as climate change intensifies?
As global temperatures rise, how will heatwave-friendly clothing be rebranded?
This year, we’ve already seen a few items added to the roster:
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