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Between Donald Trump’s unwillingness to condemn white supremacists and Joe Biden’s “will you shut up, man” line, the first presidential debate on Tuesday night was… a lot. In fact, in the aftermath of the event, The Washington Post called it “the worst presidential debate in living memory.” And while many of the topics on the docket were inaudible with all the talking over each other, one that was discussed was the climate crisis. It seems like former second lady Dr. Jill Biden dressed with the subject in mind. 

Sitting in the smaller-than-usual audience, Biden wore a green, silk dress designed by New York sustainable brand Gabriela Hearst for Fall ’17. Called the Kelley dress, it features long sleeves and fringe detailing along the front. Not only is the dress made of recycled materials, as are all of Hearst’s designs, but it was also worn by Biden for not one, but two previous engagements. She first wore the Kelley dress at the 5th Annual Save The Children Illumination Gala in 2017, which was held at The American Museum of Natural History in New York City. The look was then recycled in February of this year, when Biden wore it during an appearance on MSNBC. 

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What a surprise and honor to see that at last night’s debate Dr Jill Biden repurposed a GH dress she wore three years ago. Climate change is the biggest threat we are facing as a species. Sadly what we lost we can’t recover (60% of wild life in 50 years) but we can preserve and restore. We need the policy to do it and there is only one side right now unfortunately that is willing to admit what is real against all scientific proof. Vote this November

A post shared by Gabriela Hearst (@gabrielahearst) on Sep 30, 2020 at 12:15am PDT

“What a surprise and honor to see that at last night’s debate Dr Jill Biden repurposed a GH dress she wore three years ago,” Hearst wrote in the caption of a slideshow that showed Biden wearing the dress on stage. “Climate change is the biggest threat we are facing as a species. Sadly what we lost, we can’t recover (60% of wildlife in 50 years) but we can preserve and restore. We need the policy to do it and there is only one side right now, unfortunately, that is willing to admit what is real against all scientific proof,” the caption continued. “Vote this November.” (Biden shared the same sentiment earlier this month, when she wore a pair of Stuart Weitzman boots with the word “VOTE” written on them.) Alongside the dress, Biden wore a matching green face mask from Athleta and a heart-shaped necklace. Under her arm, she carried a brown clutch bag. 

The designer behind the dress has put sustainability first since day one. For the fall ‘17 show, according to Vogue, Hearst made it her mission to put on a show with as little an impact on the environment as possible. To do so, she rented pews and brought chairs from home for guests to sit in. The pillows that adorned them were made from leftover yarn that she then repurposed. Of the event, she said: “I like the idea that we’re doing our part by not creating something completely new.” It’s nice to see that fans of her clothing agree by rewearing existing styles.

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Over the weekend, photos of a backyard movie night in the gardens of Kensington Palace were released, showing the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, along with their three children and historian Sir David Attenborough, enjoying Attenborough’s new environmental documentary David Attenborough: A Life On Our Planet. For the occasion, the royal family came dressed in varying shades of blue, as did the guest of honor. To add to the night’s theme, Kate Middleton wore a collared chambray shirt dress made of repurposed denim. 

Middleton’s dress, called the Marley dress, is the product of New York sustainable designer Gabriela Hearst. The Uruguay-born designer founded her namesake label in 2015 and quickly made a name for herself for using previously existing materials and unused factory stock for her collections. Earlier this month, she won the CFDA Award for American Womenswear Designer of the Year, beating out past winners Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen, Marc Jacobs, Tom Ford, and Brandon Maxwell. Since Hearst first showcased the Marley dress in her pre-fall ‘20 lookbook, it’s gone on to sell out almost everywhere, with a few sizes still available at Neiman Marcus. 

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The Duchess of Cambridge wears the Marley dress ( Made of Repurpose Denim) in the gardens of Kensington Palace while attending a screening of Sir @davidattenborough “A Life on Our Planet” “With a shared passion for protecting the natural world they continue to support one another in their missions to tackle some of the biggest environmental challenges our planet faces” – via @kensingtonroyal

A post shared by Gabriela Hearst (@gabrielahearst) on Sep 27, 2020 at 2:00am PDT

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge have long been supporters of protecting the environment, so Middleton’s choice of sustainable garb is hardly a surprise. In January, the couple announced the launch of The Earthshot Prize, a multimillion-dollar prize that will be awarded to five winners per year for the next decade in the hopes of solving problems ranging from climate change to air pollution, according to Time. In a display of sustainability, Middleton often repeats outfits and has admitted to owning some wardrobe items for over 15 years. Most recently, she wore not one, but two recycled fashion items: a red-and-white Beulah London dress, that she previously wore during a Zoom call in May, and a floral face mask from Amaia, which she first showcased in August. 

Alongside the photos posted by Kensington Royal, the caption read, “With a shared passion for protecting the natural world, [The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Sir David Attenborough] continue to support one another in their missions to tackle some of the biggest environmental challenges our planet faces.” For Middleton, that mission continues in her closet. 

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It’s time to wake up. On Global Day of Climate Action, VICE Media Group is solely telling stories about our current climate crisis. Click here to meet young climate leaders from around the globe and learn how you can take action.

TikTok is home to some of 2020’s most viral fashion trends, from knitting challenges inspired by Harry Styles to a Little Women-esque aesthetic known as cottagecore. It also gives a platform to everyone from vintage clothing store owners and mending experts to fashion sustainability experts. One scroll on the app and you’ll find tips on how to transform a bedsheet into a prairie dress, followed by a lesson on the water shortage caused by denim production. 

With its bite-size videos and an algorithm that prioritizes discovery and can turn a user with zero followers into one with a million in seconds, TikTok has become the go-to app for Gen Z, in particular, for information on all kinds of things, including climate change. On the platform, upcycling — the process of taking an existing item of clothing or fabrics and reworking it into a new piece — is portrayed as a fun new craft project. And making your own clothing isn’t an inconvenience to be solved by a trip to Zara, but rather an excuse for a photoshoot, one that resembles being on set with Florence Pugh and Timothée Chalamet. But more than just providing sustainable fashion inspiration, the app has become an educational platform — one that many young people turn to and even trust more than traditional media outlets. 

“TikTok feels very real to me,” says Megan McSherry, the 23-year-old founder of AcTEEvism, a blog about sustainable fashion and conscious consumerism. “There’s a personable aspect that makes the educational part of it — especially about sustainability — come across better.” Prior to TikTok, she says finding information about sustainability that she could relate to was a struggle. Instead, she saw videos of unrelatable “experts” on Instagram and YouTube living perfectly zero-waste lifestyles in their greenhouses, wearing 100% organic cotton jumpsuits and preaching about the importance of veganism. 

“Young people on TikTok see through the whole aspirational aesthetic of sustainability, and have figured out the real contributors to climate change, which are governments and large corporations.”

– Megan McSherry, Founder of Acteevism

“The term ‘perfection paralysis’ is common in the sustainable community,” she tells Refinery29. According to McSherry, perfection paralysis happens when you realize that, if you can’t be “that perfect aesthetically pleasing version of a sustainable person,” you shouldn’t even try. “You just end up spending all your time asking yourself: Are you even making a difference? Are you really good enough? But right now, we need everyone to do every little thing they can — pressuring governments and corporations who can make the big changes,” she says. “We don’t need everybody to have a perfectly zero-waste kitchen.” McSherry says her introduction to TikTok was a breath of fresh air. “Young people on TikTok see through the whole aspirational aesthetic of sustainability that’s been sold to us by companies, and have figured out the real contributors to climate change, which are governments and large corporations,” she says. “It has more to do with a revolution and large-scale action than it does with the green, natural-looking pants that you choose to wear.”

McSherry, who has a Masters of Science in Global Supply Chain Management from the University of Southern California, joined TikTok a year ago, but didn’t start making her own videos until lockdown. Today, her videos — like this one about the alarmingly high temperatures in California — have views of up to 280k. She’s amassed over 55k followers, all of whom come to her for information ranging from corporate propaganda and government rollbacks of environmental regulations to ethical fashion and composting. And she’s hardly the only member of Gen Z who’s tackling climate change on the platform. The #ClimateChange page has over 356 million views. #ClimateCrisis has 10 million views. In total, there are 800 million users on TikTok worldwide, 60% of which are members of Gen Z, and many of them are creating (and learning from) content like McSherry’s. 

@acteevism

everybody makes mistakes!!! 🤷‍♀️🌍🧚‍♀️🥰 ##oil ##climatecrisis ##climatechange

♬ EverybodyMakesMistakes – jasonwolbert

According to her, the trick to finding educational information lies in who you follow. She chooses to follow a wide variety of people whose areas of expertise range from politics to low-waste lifestyle. “Maybe that means finding a new vegan recipe, or perhaps, learning about how a big corporation has wronged individuals in the past.” Either way, McSherry says that TikTok, with its digestible videos, makes learning about all aspects of sustainability and getting involved interesting and convenient.

The 60-second time limit for videos on TikTok plays an important role for anyone who’s attracted to a “no-bullshit” way of thinking about climate change, according to McSherry. There’s no jargon involved, nor are there added aesthetics that are commonplace on Instagram. Instead, only necessary information and facts are included, allowing viewers to get to the root of the problem. For example, in less than a minute, TikTok user @feminaziii listed off more than 10 different catastrophes happening right now around the world, including Yemen’s humanitarian crisis and the all-time high temperatures in the Arctic. Nowhere in the video did she cite her sources, but her 120k followers don’t seem to mind. They trust her, which, according to McSherry, isn’t how they feel about traditional news outlets. “How can you trust the media when it’s buying into narratives created by the same conglomerates that created the term ‘carbon footprint’ to make individuals feel bad about their consumption habits?” she asks. “Even if the news they’re telling is factually correct, it feels a lot better to hear it from a social media outlet like TikTok, where you can pick up on those biases and maybe choose not to listen to them or take things for the facts that they are.”

With more and more new users joining TikTok daily, many of whom will use the platform to educate themselves and their followers on issues — ranging from the environmental impact of fashion to politics, social justice reform, mental health, and more — it was only a matter of time before the company itself chose to support them. At the start of the pandemic, TikTok launched the Creative Learning Fund, which provided $50 million in grant money to over 800 young educators, from teachers and business professionals to public figures, who were reviewed and then asked to use the app as an educational tool. Topics included sex education, herbal medicine, and DIY fashion tutorials, among others. 

Framed as a form of COVID relief, the Creative Learning Fund was designed to provide young people with educational resources that were otherwise put on hold due to lockdown, like in-person schooling and extracurriculars. In many ways, though, the fund was a way for TikTok to highlight the fact that the platform has a purpose beyond dance videos. “The joy of learning on TikTok is that the content offers instructional tips and takeaways in a creative format, teaching something useful and inspiring users to seek out more information in a way that is fun and engaging,” says Bryan Thoensen, TikTok’s Head of Content Partnerships. The team also worked closely with all recipients to ensure that they “understand community guidelines and best practices for creating learning content.”

One Creative Learning Fund grant winner is Lily Fulop, 24, the author of Wear, Repair, Repurpose: A Maker’s Guide to Mending and Upcycling Clothes (and a designer at Refinery29). On her TikTok page, Mindful Mending, Fulop shows her followers how to buy less and reduce waste, while making more. She’s also taken up sewing her own clothes — “in the more traditional sense, instead of being scrappy and upcycling,” she says — after watching others do so on the app. Like McSherry, Fulop believes that fashion’s impact on the environment isn’t all on the shoulders of individual consumers, which is why she also uses her TikTok to shine a light on the corporate institutions that are responsible. Earlier this month, Fulop posted a clip highlighting the large-scale effects of denim production. (998.8 gallons of water are used to make a single pair of Levi’s, according to a study financed by the American denim brand.) She also shared one about how brands, from fast fashion to luxury, destroy their returned or unsold products, respectively. 

Sewing and mending clothes play directly into the cottagecore trend. An aesthetically driven return to a more traditional, simple way of life, cottagecore involves romanticizing nature and creating items, from clothing to home decor, by hand. “If you enjoy just being free in a frilly dress in some grass and love baking and picking flowers, then I’d say this is the right place for you,” says Jade Dobson, an 18-year-old who goes by @softgrlfrnd on social media. The popular aesthetic has 4 billion views on the platform, a fan in Taylor Swift, and thousands of videos, a majority of which take place in lush, green fields — fields that, without serious changes, probably won’t be lush for much longer. 

“Sustainability and do-it-yourself projects are key to [the cottagecore] aesthetic,” Dobson says, explaining that cottagecore fashion falls into three categories: secondhand clothing, clothing from small businesses, and clothing made by hand, with an emphasis on the latter. But not every cottagecore fan started out with a knack for needle and thread. Instead, many were first introduced to the trend through thrifting. 

“The way that [TikTok] pushes out information is so different, and that’s what makes it so important and valuable.”

– Megan McSherry, Founder of Acteevism

Before cottagecore, the Creative Learning Fund, or upcycling blew up on TikTok, there were thrift hauls. (The hashtag #thrift has 1 billion views and counting on the app.) For Gen Z, thrifting has always been an integral part of their shopping routine. Some shared with me that it’s the individuality factor that brought them to it; others, the low prices. Most, though, named sustainability as their reason for diving into Goodwill’s pay-by-the-pound bins and scouring racks and racks at Salvation Army. “We need to produce less clothing, and make use of the clothes that are already in existence,” says Fulop. “Doing so will save water, reduce microplastics and petroleum use, cut down on pollution from pesticides, dye, and shipping.” Thrifting is among the easiest and most cost-efficient ways to do that.

Estella Struck, a sophomore in college and an environmentalist, spent the beginning of lockdown learning about the damaging impact that the fashion industry has on the environment. From what she learned, she decided to take matters into her own hands, by creating a sustainable brand called Ethica Clothing. At Ethica, Struck sources secondhand pieces that would’ve otherwise been thrown away and sells them under-$10. In addition to selling, she also shares her knowledge about the climate crisis with shoppers. “I wanted to create something that gives people an accessible, non-time consuming way to thrift,” Struck wrote on her website.

@ethica.clothing

Also taking shorter showers!! Do what you can to help the planet😘🤍 ##ecofriendly ##environment ##sustainability ##ethicalfashion ##sustainableliving

♬ Paradise – Ikson

Given how quickly she was able to grow a following on TikTok, Struck uses it as her main channel, rather than Instagram or Facebook. “There are a lot of opportunities on TikTok to get your message out to a lot of people for free,” she tells Refinery29. “For example my video about what Ethica is reached one million people in five hours for free.” In addition to videos of new clothing drops, Struck uses her TikTok to urge shoppers to vote, spread information about coral reefs, glaciers, and the water shortage. It allows me to not only talk about my business and market my business to people but also introduce new people to sustainability and help educate people on why we need to really look around and take tangible steps towards a green future,” Struck says. “I feel like a lot of people when they think of sustainability and environmentalism think about a granola-type people, which maybe isn’t the lifestyle that a majority of people want to live, causing people to shy away from a sustainable lifestyle,” she explains. For her, TikTok has become a way to show young people that anyone can take steps toward a safer, cleaner future.

Now, with a potential ban on TikTok downloads just days away — Trump made a last-minute deal with the company on Monday, which pushed the ban by one week, to September 27 — many Gen Z TikTokers are nervous. “I have 55k followers who follow me to learn about environmental issues,” says McSherry. “And we don’t have environmental education in this country, at least not really; I didn’t get that until I went to college where I chose to study it.” 

It isn’t simply a matter of switching to other platforms, either. “Other social media platforms just don’t have the reach or power that TikTok has in terms of really having the ability for anybody at any following size to get a message out there to millions of people,” she says. “The way that it pushes out information is so different, and that’s what makes it so important and valuable.” But if we learned anything from Trump’s lack of concern about the California wildfires, it’s this: He really doesn’t care about the climate crisis, nor does he care what TikTok means to the environmental movement or about young peoples’ educations on the topic. 

That’s why Gen Zers with a platform like McSherry and Struck are focusing their attention on getting their followers to the polls on November 3. “The future of our planet hangs on the ballot on November 3rd,” Struck said in a recent TikTok video. “Show up for your planet.”

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One summer in high school, I worked part-time at Everything But Water, a swimsuit chain, at the local mall. Now, eight years later, I don’t recall the difference in technique between hanging a bandeau versus a triangle bikini. I do, however, remember all too well how stressful many women found the process of buying a swimsuit. Ask any woman you know, no matter what size they wear, and they’ll likely have a swimsuit shopping horror story or two; to this day, I hear them all the time. Almost a decade later, not a lot has changed. And for plus-size women, the problem is significantly worse.

In speaking with women size 12 and up about their shopping frustrations this summer, one thing was made abundantly clear: The fashion industry, for the most part, pays no mind to plus-size women, despite the average apparel size for a woman in the U.S. being between 16 and 18. Plus-size swimwear — which Cameron Armstrong, the founder of size-inclusive swimwear brand Kitty & Vibe, calls “the most vulnerable piece of clothing a woman [of any size] wears in public” — is an even more overlooked category. “I heard this narrative of negative feelings surrounding swimsuits far too often, in my own head and from so many others,” she tells Refinery29. Eventually, the stories got so bad that Armstrong, who had zero design experience prior to launching Kitty & Vibe, felt the need to launch the business just to remedy that.

Not only do few swimsuit brands offer options for women size 12 and up, but those that do often only supply options with unsatisfactory fits and an overall lack of style. Bikini tops rarely provide the kind of support that many women need to feel comfortable and secure, bottoms sag, one-pieces are too short, and swimsuit tops that do have underwire support are uncomfortable to the point of pain. For many women, these are realities they’ve come to expect when swimsuit shopping. Which brings us to the question at hand: Why is it so hard to make a good plus-size bathing suit?

According to Taylor Long — who, before launching her size-inclusive swimwear brand Nomads, was a curve model and an activist for size-inclusivity in fashion — the lack of fashion education is responsible for limited stylish, comfortable, and well-made swimwear options. “Most designers are not taught how to design for sizes bigger than a 0 or 2,” Long tells Refinery29. “I saw this first hand throughout design school, and honestly, I had to learn to design for larger sizes on my own. I’ve also heard horror stories from other designer friends, where pattern graders flat-out refuse to grade to plus sizes.” (A pattern grader is someone who takes a designer’s initial sample and creates the patterns for other sizes.) 

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A post shared by NOMADS (@nomadsswimwear) on Sep 21, 2020 at 6:01am PDT

During her first round of developing samples, Armstrong asked to see samples across every size and style. “I quickly found out this was not a typical ask, and it was quite an expensive one, which is probably why companies traditionally avoided it,” she says. “However, when avoided, it results in garments that fit perfectly on the ‘fit sample’ bodies, leaving plus-size bodies without the same well-developed fit.” In short, all sizes are then graded off of a size 2 body type, without taking into consideration body shapes or curves as the sizes go up. 

In the case of Kitty & Vibe, Armstrong found that the solution was to scrap the sizing method most commonly used by swimwear designers and come up with an entirely new one. “I’ve always been frustrated with my swim bottoms that sagged in the ocean when wet, creating almost a diaper effect,” Armstrong says. “Other women I spoke to felt similarly, or had the opposite issue of never having enough fabric to cover their bum.” To determine a solution, she held focus groups in her New York City apartment, where she measured her friends and discovered something: women can have the same hip size — which is how nearly all bikini bottoms are sized — but different inseam measurements, which contributes to bottoms fitting differently on two women that share the same hip size. “Thus the Kitty Size was born,” she says. “For every hip size, we offer two inseam options to accommodate different booty sizes, so you never have too little or too much fabric, and you always have the perfect fit.” 

Armstrong, who is straight-size, says the best way to create swimwear that actually fits for plus-size women is to *drumroll please* ask them. “I have the person who will be wearing the product actually give [me] feedback and help make the design decisions,” she says. Even after a product has been released, her team gathers feedback from all of Kitty & Vibes’ customers. “Some of the feedback we heard from the plus-size community includes [the need for] a thicker elastic waistband for sizes XL and up that doesn’t pinch nor dig on our bikini bottoms,” she admits. “They also requested increased support on the rib cage of our tops for sizes DD+.” Armstrong then takes this feedback back to the drawing board in order to create swimwear that fits even better. 

Long likewise took a different approach to fit than most swimwear brands. “Instead of using a size S as our sample size, we used a size XL [12-14] and graded up and down from there,” she explains. “It made a tremendous difference in our overall fit.” Fabric and trims were also important considerations for Long, who chose power mesh throughout in order to offer a strong hold and lift. 

But the swimwear industry’s hesitation to embrace the plus-size community isn’t only evident in the fit department. It also appears in the quality and style of the limited options that are offered, as well as the way that curve models are portrayed in advertising. When modeling, Long says that she’d often be styled in “matronly and modest swim styles meant for curvy and plus-size women,” to which she too often asked herself, “Who would wear these? Why don’t cute brands have extended sizes?” What she found out during her modeling career was that very few brands make stylish, sexy swimsuits for all sizes. Instead, most do up to a size 10 or 12, and then stop. “When brands do sell sizes beyond L, too often their offerings are watered-down versions of their other designs or are substantially more covered up,” she says. “The fact of the matter is, you rarely see fun prints or sexy details for curvy women.” 

If my inbox is any indication, hundreds of new brands, all of which cater toward only straight-size women, are launched every year. The percentage of just-launched brands that design for women size 12 and up is significantly smaller. Cut that down to just swimwear, and it’s even smaller. But plus-size women like Long shouldn’t be responsible for fixing that. If things are ever going to change, influential swimwear brands need to acknowledge plus-size women as a customer base worth serving. And given that 67% of the population wears a size 14 and above, and as of 2019, the plus-size apparel market was worth an estimated $9.8 billion, they better start soon if they want to be influential much longer. 

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From the looks of it, H&M has been busy in quarantine. In August, the Swedish fashion brand announced a collaboration with Beirut-based designer Sandra Mansour, followed by a sustainable partnership with Italian fashion house Giuliva Heritage and a fall fashion collection made using organic and recycled materials. On Thursday, came the big finale: H&M fall ‘20 Studio collection. If you aren’t familiar, H&M releases two Studio collections a year — one in the fall and another in the spring — each of which includes the brand’s most quality and fashion-forward offerings of the season. And despite their busy schedule, no boxes were left unchecked for this latest release. 

For the fall Studio collection, Linda Wikell, H&M Studio’s Concept Designer, had two muses in mind: ‘80s superstar David Bowie and 19th-century British writer Violet Paget. Together, their influences brought forth “The Refined Rebel,” a fictional H&M shopper “whose style is as daring as their attitude,” the press release states. “[David Bowie’s] Rebel, Rebel track was on repeat in the studio and we wanted to capture his fearlessness and his gender-bending style in this collection,” Wikell tells Refinery29. “Violet Paget, too. Her style was polished and slick but she was a total rebel — wearing menswear in the 19th century! Both are beacons of self-expression and we loved their rebellious energy, as well as their style.”

The collection features a combination of tailored suiting with signature styles from glam and punk. Oversized blazers with cut-off sleeves, red leather pants, a sequin sweater vest, and a glimmering ‘70s-esque two-piece set are all included in the 44-piece selection, which also houses knee-high go-go boots, a multicolored Florentine silk scarf, and a pair of moss-green padded sandals. 

According to Wikell, the fall Studio collection was already under way when lockdown started. “Luckily for us, the fabrics — recycled Italian wools, Italian leather, organic cottons — we’d chosen for this collection were unaffected,” she says. Her team’s biggest challenge, though, came after the collection was complete. “The Studio campaign had to be styled and shot remotely, which was a completely new format for us,” she says. “But it worked perfectly. Our collection is about self-expression and identity so it was fitting to have our talents (who were all over the world) create their own image and looks.”

For the campaign, H&M gave the reins over to Euphoria actress and model Barbie Ferreira; Berlin-based fashion editor Veronika Heilbrunner; British-Jamaican soul singer Celeste; American fashion model Alton Mason; French visual artists and couple, the Young Emperors; and Mia Kong, Dazed China’s Style Director, by allowing them to style and shoot pieces in whatever way they choose. 

See the star-studded campaign and shop the collection now at HM.com.

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When it comes to protective face masks, there really is no limit to how many different styles one can get away with buying. The need to purchase more is only heightened when a new season arrives, meaning a whole new set of trendy options to choose from. And already since we felt the first gust of fall wind last week, a passing of the torch has occurred in the mask department. Suddenly, it isn’t frilly and floral styles à la Kate Middleton that people are shopping for, but rather, more autumnal offerings like these leather masks. Another fall must in the mask department? Plaid masks. 

Riverdale star Camila Mendes was the first to kick-start this trend when, over the summer, she showcased a yellow-and-black plaid mask courtesy of NY-based sustainable brand Collina Strada. Mendes went on to wear the mask a number of times throughout July and August, which she paired with black, high-waisted jeans and a grungy Saint Laurent T-shirt during a grocery store run and cropped T-shirts with cut-offs while grabbing coffee. 

Unfortunately, Mendes’ go-to face mask is no longer available — that is, unless you’d like to sew it yourself, in which case, there are instructions on the Collina Strada website. If DIY isn’t your style, there are plenty of other worthy plaid face masks on the market just waiting to be introduced into your fall wardrobe. Shop our favorites below.

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This year has resulted in the rise of many a micro fashion trend. Some we expected as a result of the pandemic, like sweatsuits and face masks. Others were less predictable, like for example, the return of this noughties footwear style: the platform flip-flop. The rise of Lindsey Lohan and Paris Hilton’s preferred choice of footwear in the early ‘00s was certainly a surprise. However, like the standard flip-flop did back in the summer of ‘18, platform flip-flops have defied the odds by becoming a summer-to-fall transition and indoor shoe must-have in 2020. 

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A post shared by Monikh Dale (@monikh) on Jul 13, 2020 at 8:08am PDT

The rise of said lifted thongs was first brought to our attention when iconic ‘00s duo Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen’s luxury brand, The Row, released a pair in ivory and black leather this summer. Soon, fashion girls were flocking to them, including Monikh, Alyssa Coscarelli, and Brittany Bathgate. (Others, like Blanca Miro and Katie Ruensumran, opted instead for the brand’s platform clogs, which are equally as covetable.) Today, the Ginza sandals, along with about a dozen other similar styles, are impossible to escape — and they aren’t going anywhere just because summer is over.

At Source Unknown, a recently launched fashion brand that specializes in affordable, trendy clothing and shoes, the platform flip-flop selection includes everything from Ginza-like styles with added laces to more throwback styles made of terrycloth. Zara’s take is made in a cognac colorway and showcases a Maison Margiela Tabi-like toe design, while the offering at Simon Miller has an even higher lift and comes in colors like neon green and cocoa. (Speaking of which: The Simon Miller Coaster Thong sandal is currently on sale.) Reike Nen, Dries Van Noten, and ATP Atelier are all also selling unique iterations of the platform flip-flop.

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A post shared by SIMON MILLER (@simonmillerusa) on Aug 10, 2020 at 8:03am PDT

Of course, this isn’t the first time in recent seasons that we’ve seen a classic item get trendier with some added height. The same thing happened with ‘70s style boots, as well as combat boots. Later, we saw it happen with loafers, followed by leather slides.  It was only a matter of time before fashion gave the flip-flop the same treatment. Furthermore, since we’re still spending the majority of our time indoors, there’s really no reason to stop wearing something you like just because it’s no longer technically weather-appropriate.

Now that flip-flop season knows no bounds, shop our favorite lifted styles, below. 

At Refinery29, we’re here to help you navigate this overwhelming world of stuff. All of our market picks are independently selected and curated by the editorial team. If you buy something we link to on our site, Refinery29 may earn commission.

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Not everyone would pair loungewear with heels, but that’s exactly what Tracee Ellis Ross just did, proving that the two do in fact go together. On Tuesday, the black-ish star posted a slideshow to her Instagram that showed her posing in her trailer. “Just waiting to get called to set for rehearsal,” she wrote in her caption. “Right at the edge of my no mask zone.” In the photos, Ross can be seen wearing an aqua blue sweatsuit courtesy of sustainable loungewear brand PANGAIA, which she paired with *drumroll please* Bottega Veneta’s braided Lido sandals in white — better known as the It sandals of this spring and summer. She topped off the ensemble with a pair of chunky gold hoops and her signature bold lip. 

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A post shared by Tracee Ellis Ross (@traceeellisross) on Sep 22, 2020 at 1:44pm PDT

This isn’t the first time that the actress has gone casual since lockdown began. Just a week ago, she appeared in a different PANGAIA sweatsuit, but, instead of heels, she paired the mint-colored set with Nike sneakers. (Kerry Washington commented on the post: “And her sneaker game,” with a fire emoji.)

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A post shared by Tracee Ellis Ross (@traceeellisross) on Sep 15, 2020 at 9:08am PDT

But while we wouldn’t dare pass up an opportunity to see Ross in a new pair of kicks, her nonchalant way of styling designer mules with a sweatsuit is downright perfection. Apparently, her fans agree. In the comment section, artist Daze Feathers wrote, “This fit is bomb.” Another followed named Chelsea Ketchens said, “I’m wearing sweatsuits like this for the rest of my life. TUCKED IN SINCE ‘20.” 

Matching sweatsuits in 2020 aren’t exactly a new phenomenon. In fact, they’re probably the most worn items of the year thus far. But as usual, Ross put a whole new spin on the co-ord that, given its overwhelming popularity, we thought we’d seen in every possible light. That said, you bet we’ll be taking cues from the black-ish star’s sweatsuit-with-heels look all season long.

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This spring and summer, as the pandemic took hold of the country, people were forced to press pause on many aspects of their everyday lives. College classes were canceled, restaurants closed (some permanently), and vacations were postponed. For the thousands of people who planned to get married in 2020, stress from the pandemic was heightened even further. As concerns over large gatherings grew by the day, many couples had to rethink their nuptials. With how quickly event spaces book up, some had already waited a year or even two to get married when COVID hit. Now, having rescheduled their dates to next year, they would be waiting even longer. The uncertainty of it all, though, led some couples to ditch their original plans to say “I do” in front of 200 of their closest friends and family, and instead, opt for something smaller and safer, but all the more special: a “micro-wedding.”

Those brides who decided to hold intimate weddings had a couple of different options in the dress department: Stick with the dresses they’d planned on wearing to their original wedding celebrations; accept the risk of buying a wedding dress online; or swap out a traditional bridal look entirely for something already in their wardrobes. Whichever sartorial route was chosen, the brides featured ahead all had tales about planning, and subsequently dressing for, their big days during a pandemic. And yet, none of them had a single regret.

From a bride who got married in a dress she’s had since high school to another who found matching utility jumpsuits for her and her husband-to-be in the back of their closets, find out what eight women chose to wear on the biggest day of their lives mid-pandemic. 

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On Monday, following the first true fall weekend in New York, Katie Holmes was spotted hand-in-hand with her reported boyfriend, celebrity chef Emilio Vitolo Jr. But their budding relationship — the couple was first seen together at dinner earlier this month and was photographed last week kissing in Central Park — wasn’t what sparked our attention during this outing. Instead, our eyes were on Holmes’ effortlessly crafted look that we wouldn’t hesitate to wear for our next work Zoom call. For the occasion, Holmes layered a long-sleeved white T-shirt underneath a plaid, double-breasted blazer. With that, she wore a pair of cream-colored knit joggers from Mango, white Common Project sneakers, and a black bucket bag courtesy of Sharkchaser. Holmes topped off the look with a standard surgical face mask.

Pre-pandemic, this look would’ve been a bit of a question mark. Why would Holmes, the unofficial queen of high-fashion knitwear — who made NY-based label Khaite’s cashmere bralettes sell out — pair sweatpants with a blazer? Post-pandemic, however, not only will her streak as a fashion icon continue on with this look, but it’ll also grant her a new title: the master of WFH fashion. 

Anyone who’s spent the last seven or so months working from their sofa will tell you that the key to a comfortable, yet polished look on Zoom means the combination of two wardrobe items: a blazer (or a good top) and a pair of sweatpants. The former allows for viewers, a.k.a. your coworkers and bosses, to get the impression that you put in some effort for the call. The latter, which live outside of the camera’s view, makes it possible for you to stay cozy during your nine-to-five, especially now that fall is officially here. 

According to Holmes, though, the WFH look no longer has to be kept strictly indoors, protected by a strategic laptop angle. With her stamp of approval, we can now wear our favorite style hack from lockdown on any occasion.

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Ten years ago, if you had asked us to put on a pair of pants that weren't skin-tight, we'd have rolled our eyes in disgust. For what seemed like forever, we gave skinny jeans and leggings our undivided attention. That is, until one day when a light appeared at the end of the tunnel and saved us from another year of wearing pants that were uncomfortably tight.

A decade and a handful of half-hearted pant trends later, we've finally found a silhouette with the potential to rival the skinny jean era in a real way. Baggy pants, or as some people like to call them, puddle pants, have been on the rise for quite some time now, but it wasn't until they started popping up on every street style photographer-covered corner in New York, London, Milan, and Paris last fall that the trend became crystal clear. A year later, they're back — and the options are better than ever.

From slouchy, distressed denim to loose, extra-long trousers — check out all of this fall's baggiest pant styles by clicking through the slideshow ahead.

At Refinery29, we’re here to help you navigate this overwhelming world of stuff. All of our market picks are independently selected and curated by the editorial team. If you buy something we link to on our site, Refinery29 may earn commission.

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Tonight marks the 72nd annual Emmy Awards, the first award show of its kind since the pandemic took hold. Sure, there were the MTV Video Music Awards, which were broadcast live from multiple rooftops around New York City last month and were a success, but it’s the Emmys that are television’s most anticipated event. That said, tonight’s semi-virtual event — which will include Jimmy Kimmel hosting in an empty theatre and videographers dispatched to the winners for acceptance speeches — will be marked “TBD” until the credits roll around 11pm EST. One thing we were worried about was the lack of an Emmys red carpet, which for many viewers, is more important than the show itself. But, as proven by the looks we’ve already seen, just because the night’s fashion won’t look as what we’ve grown accustomed to at the last 72 Emmys, doesn’t mean that it won’t prevail. 

Instead, tonight’s nominees — including Zendaya for Euphoria; Issa Rae for Insecure; Rachel Brosnahan for The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel; Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Sandra Oh, and Jodie Comer for Killing Eve; Tracee Ellis Ross for black-ish; and more — will be (fingers crossed) greeted at home by camera crews upon their names being called. And if we’ve learned anything from their past trips down the Emmys red carpet, none of the above will settle for just okay looks for the occasion. Whether that means silky pajamas or couture gowns, only time will tell. 

Ahead, find out what the stars of your favorite TV shows chose for the (very different) 2020 Emmys.

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