Not long ago, Dawnn Karen hopped on the back of her fiancé’s moped, done up for a night on the town. She wore a halter-top jumpsuit with red lipstick to match, a leopard-patterned mask, and a cape that flapped like a banner in her wake.
Her look, she acknowledged, was over the top. But like many of her clients, Ms. Karen, a writer and psychologist, is dressing in italics, venturing toward fashion’s wilder shores to celebrate a freedom that has eluded her much of this year.
“Being confined during months of lockdown does take an emotional toll,” said Ms. Karen, 31, who has branded herself as a fashion therapist. But the cautious resumption of outdoor dining, shopping, and entertaining in small groups, has been a boon, she said, with gussying up for such moments a source of mood enhancement.
“Now that we have this chance, we’re dressing to the nines,” she said, “tapping into the joyful side of ourselves.”
A recent surge in the coronavirus infection rate, an incipient chill in the air and the anxiety surrounding Election Day have done little to dampen the spirits of those devoted to dressing nicely. Bored rigid with their tracksuits, caftans and floppy men’s shirts, they are uncorking long-suppressed impulses, no errand or assignation too inconsequential to trot out their best or even shop for something new.