MOSSEL BAY NEWS - The lockdown affected many women's style of dress.
For months many were used to shuffling around in pyjamas and dressing gowns because of restrictions on leaving their homes.
Mossel Bay Advertiser news editor, Cornelle Carstens, has a distinctly individualistic dress style and massive wardrobe. She enjoyes a highly accessorised, often vintage, look, changing handbags frequently and wearing matching jewellery and belts with each outfit.
We ask her if the lockdown has affected her style.
Q: Tell us your lockdown story.
A: My husband, who works in Mali, returned to South Africa on 20 March. The national state of disaster had been declared in South Africa on 15 March. As he had travelled via Ethiopia and OR Tambo International Airport, we were advised to self isolate for the sake of our loved ones, friends and collea-gues.
We prefer to be at our holiday house in Gourits-mond when he comes home, so I grabbed a few things, mostly light clothing and we started self isolation. It then seemed like a working holiday.
Q: How did the lockdown affect your image?
A: As the lockdown became longer and yet longer, autumn and winter came, leaving me separated from some of my favourite things: hats, boots, scarves, tailored jackets and coats.
Yet, strangely, I had no desire to cart everything to Gouritsmond's small closets, only large enough for summer holiday garb. So I stuck to the bits and pieces I had, prompting myself to get creative.
The lockdown changed the way I think about getting dressed. I am not someone to lounge in pyjamas or a tracksuit. However, my focus now is comfort.
I have opted for pants, mostly cargo pants, so I can store things in my pockets, like my ever-present cellphone, should I pop out for fresh air when not in front of my laptop, working.
Also, working from home, there are no more "office hours", hence, if I am on duty all the time, at least let it be in easy clothing.
I came to realise I needed a quarter of my clothes. I accessorise differently now. As much as I miss certain accessories, especially large, dangling earrings, I also find the obvious hassle with the mask limiting, because you constantly have to untuck your ears, getting everything else stuck in the process.
I also now manage with half my pairs of shoes, if not fewer.
Q: Have you bought any winter items?
A: I've bought some and made some myself.
As soon as we could go to the shops again in level 4 to stock up on winter clothing, I found myself searching for knits. Comfy cardigans became a favourite.
Among the things I grabbed from home before the hard lockdown was knitting yarn. I have knitted about 50 beanies since, in almost every colour imaginable. I did stock up on more yarn too.
I have also rekindled my love of woolly shoulder wraps and ponchos and knitted a few that I now wrap around a jersey or light jacket if I need extra warmth.
Q: What was your emotional, psychological response to the lockdown? Did it inspire new choices in clothing?
My feeling about clothes was that I wanted to be warm and comforted. Woolly clothing made me feel less exposed to the realities of Covid-19 and the fear of losing elderly family members and friends and losing income. The desperation among our communities, the closing of businesses and the violent crimes against women which took place at that time, were also harsh realities.
I think the lockdown has presented many of us with a more stripped-down version of ourselves, which needs to be wrapped in a little cottonwool for a while, like a not-so-glamourous cardy, to comfort us into a new normal.
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