A Study of Nostalgia, Fashion, and Covid-19

This major research project proposes that nostalgia centrally applies to the COVID-19 pandemic in that the pandemic has profoundly impacted how consumers dress and shop. With the COVID-19 pandemic causing lockdowns, quarantines, and isolation, the resulting rise of mental health issues went hand in hand with changes in fashion marketing and consumer shopping. This major research project offers an analysis of two case studies providing insight into how fashion brands invoke feelings of nostalgia in consumers by creating items or collections that recall memories of the past including the use of iconic visual images recalling childhood-themed popular culture products from the recent past. The first case study focuses on Miu Miu's Spring 2022 collection and the resurgence of Y2K style while the second analyzes LOEWE's 2021 My Neighbor Totoro collection, 2022 Spirited Away collection, and 2023 Howl's Moving Castle collection in collaboration with Japanese animation company Studio Ghibli. Overall, this study contributes to the intersecting fields of Fashion Studies, COVID-19 Studies, and Affect studies by examining nostalgia's relationship with global disruption. The study argues that evidence of nostalgia-themed fashion foci during COVID-19 appealed to consumers trying to cope with, and escape from, the stresses and strains of the pandemic.