Instagram account of the week- @frockdown

In other news is all about some well-needed distraction in these crazy times and a focus towards normality which is why @frockdown had to be my favourite instagram account of the week. The page was created by Ella (top left) and Mia (bottom right) and Mia below shares a little bit of what Frockdown is all about:

I hope that everyone is staying healthy and happy at the moment, and it is now more important than ever! I know that recently we have all been going through a great period of change, and adapting to this has sometimes been difficult. This is a time for us all to contemplate the important things, and grab hold of them if we can. Covid19 has flipped a lot of our lives upside down, in many different ways. However, one of the things that we can still control is our routine, and fashion psychologist Dawn Karen in the Times told us that one way to do this was through the clothes that we decide to wear. Our page Frockdown is an account dedicated to helping us all stay sane and positive during this pandemic through encouraging people to wake up everyday and chuck on their favourite outfits.

Like most people around the world, our plans for March did not go as planned. Ella was made to fly back from her year abroad in Washington, with the chance of possibly never going back, and returning home early from university left us both incredibly uprooted. These sudden changes that everyone was forced to go throw, in a variety of different ways, left many people feeling particularly stressed and anxious about the future. The lockdown has affected many people in hundreds of ways, so we decided to do what we could to help people focus on what makes them feel good.

As a result, my friend Ella and I decided to create a page promoting the importance of routine during lockdown through the outfit creations that we were coming up with. From daring patterns and combos, to simply our favourite timeless pieces and daytime casual numbers, we wanted to help encourage other young people to do the same. For someone who has always been slightly on the more relaxed side when it comes to a daily routine, my favourite part of every morning (aside from breakfast..!) is deciding what outfit I want to wear, that is going to make me feel like my true best self. And as soon as we started sharing the idea, we found out that several of our friends had been doing a similar thing – getting dressed in the morning was giving people a sense of normality and regularity during this unique period.

We decided to do it through the art of getting dressed when you wake up – to get you feeling refreshed and proactive, but also in a way that you can get creative and have a bit of fun with. Ella and I have always loved to share funky, new styles and pieces with each other, from our favourite dresses and outfits to accessories and jewellery, and as a result we thought the perfect way to help us to feel more normal during lockdown was to put on our favourite outfits, that leave us feeling confident, perky and most of all happy! This isn’t to keep up appearances as such, because this is the perfect time to get a bit wild and woolly and break down some of those cultural norms that are expected of us usually, but more to help you feel like you can get sh** done, and not wish away this time stuck indoors.

This is particularly important if we want to see these few months not as a time to let go to waste, but to use it in ways that we will not regret – whether that is smashing all of your university deadlines, starting a fun creative project like your own indie brand, or volunteering to help with the pandemic. We know how easy it is (especially as university students) to get into a rut and become uninspired by what’s going on around you.. and the impact that this can have on both your physical and mental wellbeing can be greater than you may think. Obviously it is so important to have that downtime, to chuck on your yoga pants, pjs or trackies and just kick back to some Netflix, but as we still don’t know how long we are going to be prevented from exploring the outside world, we wanted to create a page that promoted a ‘carpe diem’ attitude.

With so much bleak news around at the moment, we hope through Frockdown to not only help people stay positive through some bright and colourful content, but by promoting a proactive attitude to this time in lockdown - a way to escape the new pandemic of ‘cabin fever’ that is spreading throughout homes around the world. One of our favourite things about lockdown is hearing about all the great creative projects that we have seen emerging as a result – from online blogs, to upstyling clothing brands, we are also using Frockdown as a platform to support all these entrepreneurial superstars.

We both hope that people are managing to get used to the whole idea of quarantine, and if the most helpful thing that we can do at the moment for our communities is to stay at home, then that is what we shall do. Without overusing social media and trying to use this as a time to think inwardly about ourselves and those around us, it is so important to stay aware of your wellbeing. Do what makes you feel good. Whether that is having a lazy day in trackies, or waking up and throwing on your favourite outfit, this is a time now to listen to what your body is telling you to do. However, tomorrow maybe try and wake up, chuck on your favourite pair of trousers, and see if you can tick a few more things off your to-do list. We want to help people to feel like they can seize the day – the little things like getting dressed in the morning are so important to help keep us healthy. So tomorrow give it a go and get involved so we can get through this frockdown together.

https://www.instagram.com/frockdown/