One very small positive aspect of the COVID-19 crisis is that we don’t have to dress up while we’re stuck at home. Everything we wear still makes a statement, although what it states might not be what we had in mind. Sweatpants say, “I believe science and I’m home until the infection rate drops.” Outside the house, an unmasked face like Trump’s says “I’m fine, screw the rest of you.”

When Reagan established that “Greed is Good” in 1980, fashion, which had been full of wild colors in the ’60s and ’70s, turned black. It stayed black for more than a decade. The Reagan era was when all the wealth Americans created began to go to the richest, and working people started sliding backwards into poverty. Fashion went into mourning.

Women have spent a century fighting for equal rights, equal pay, and equal respect. Women’s fashions have not always cooperated. Wearing pants: a big win. Skirts so short you should sit on a towel; heels so high you can hardly walk; necklines so low you can’t pick up a pen you dropped or your boobs might pop out: not helpful. Unless we’re actually hoping to pick somebody up before the bar closes, let’s try not to send that message.

Some fashions worn by people of color stem from irony, bitterness, and anger. Small wonder. Pants falling off a man’s butt threaten to moon a world that has disrespected him. Iron chains used to mean black people were slaves of white people. Gold chains don’t mean slavery is over. They only say that the new master is Money. They might be costly; the wearer might be rich; but he is still wearing chains.