New year, new habits, new posting schedule

Happy 2021, honeybunches, and I wish you lavish supplies of verve and vigour as you traverse the coming year.  

From this point on, the Passage opens every Tuesday.  Given the times, that's more manageable for me.

In December, I mistakenly published a 2020 assessment of what I bought—and now that post has vanished, making a strange year even stranger.  Oh well. Here's the summary collage; if you commented, I didn't see those, and would appreciate you re-posting your remarks if you're willing.

The earrings and running shoes were bought retail; the rest was consignment or thrift bought before the March lockdown— but the collage is not the full story, because I also ordered a second pair of Icebug snow boots, running tops, yoga pants, exercise tees, athletic socks and sports bras. I called it The Year of Gear and gave myself a grade of somewhere around a B, but it was very hard to apply the usual criteria of utility and joy of use.

The striking change was not what I bought, but how I shopped, barely stepping into a store. Accompanying a friend or visitor who wanted to visit Montréal boutiques, or checking out a season's new stock— off limits. I'd sooner walk through a zoo's reptile house than a department store, even when we could. Several acquaintances bought dresses, offering various rationales but saying in the same breath, "I have nowhere to wear these".  Perhaps they were a symbol of hope.

I am now preoccupied with the thought: What will happen when things make a halting return to life?  Will women pitch a pile of sweats, or will we experience the equivalent of John F. Kennedy's rejection of hats, which led men who once wore them daily to abandon their fedoras for good?

For the past two weeks, my inbox has been stuffed with sixty percent reductions on the blazers and trousers that tell the depressing story that manufacturers were caught with a vast inventory on one wanted, at all price points.

Photo: Simons

Luxury has its sleek back against the wall: want a pair of Lavin boots? The price drop (at Montréal's Simons), was as vertiginous as the heels.

My predictions:

Nanushka shirt, Netaporter

1. Women will wear real clothes again, if only to celebrate that they are out of the house; however,  you will see the loungewear look on the street, worn by those who have grown accustomed and like the ease. (Maybe more than they should?)

Nars Oil-infused Lip Tint, Sephora

2. Makeup sales will soar as women reacquaint themselves with their faces below their eyes, but heels will never regain market share. (The day I receive vaccine, I'm celebrating by ordering this Nars lip tint.)

Tiny perfect closet

4. Smaller wardrobes? I'm skeptical. Once back on display, the magnetic pull to consume will assert itself. But I predict women will be ordering more globally, having built confidence in new sources.

Cos tiered midi shirt dress

5. Dresses, as those women presciently figured out, will be like tulips, the sign of blooming. We can wear our elastic-waists and oversized tees to dash out for the groceries, but when wecan hold hands across a table and weddings move off Zoom, joggers are not going to cut it.

As with any Black Swan event, all sorts of unanticipated changes roll in. What do you think we'll see?

Let's watch as the world takes teetering steps, like an eager toddler, and begin this new year with tolerance for the fits and starts, grateful we are here to see it happen.