What Your Go-to Quarantine Style of Choice Says About Your Personality

Photo: Getty Images/Christine Schneider
Not all heroes wear capes, and currently, many don't even wear pants. During the early weeks of quarantine, Walmart notably and hilariously even saw a rise in sales of tops but not bottoms, suggesting that many staying at home (and only connecting with others via neck-and-up video chats) can't be bothered to deal with their below-the-waist business. Pants or not, when it comes to your quarantine style, there are certainly several different roads you could take, and, psychologically speaking, your choice may be significant.

A 2015 study published in in the journal Social Psychological and Personality Science found that different styles can affect self-perception, how others perceive you, and even how you make certain decisions. Ultimately, formalwear was found to make people come across as—and, it's worth noting how prescient this terminology is—more "socially distant." So now, as we're at home debating if we should dress up by putting on pants period, we can take a collective sigh of relief knowing that dressing down makes some scientific sense. That's because our old "normal" might well be the new "formal," and it can make us come across as even farther away from one another.

But ultimately, comfort is the name of the game right now, and it means different things to different people. So below, using a series of sweeping generalizations (but minimal judgment), find out what your quarantine style says about you.

Which of the 10 quarantine style choices best reflects your personality?

1. Sweatpants and sweatshirt

No matter how old you actually are, your spirit age is college sophomore, and you have the messy bun to show for it. You used to make a habit of showing up to your 8 a.m. class hungover, and put in the absolute bare minimum when it came to fashion. And now, we're all hungover...emotionally, and sometimes otherwise.

The sweatpants-sweatshirt combo can be a total self-care move, but if you're not someone who normally defaults on this look, and aren't feeling great about it, try dressing up with a pair of leggings tomorrow to see if doing so makes you feel better.

2. Sweater and leggings

During these trying times, I embrace leggings as a sign of optimism. With this sartorial choice, there's an implied change that you might just make time for a five-minute yoga stretch. Maybe.

3. Day pajamas to night pajamas

Because you don't have to deal with any IRL, face-to-face contact, you're embracing every ounce of joie de vivre of this moment that you can. And making that crucial switch at 7 p.m. from day to night PJs means you're still keeping up with your most basic healthy habits. Because living in the same yummy sushi-print pajamas for three months straight is, perhaps, a cry for help.

4. Changing outfits thrice daily

This doesn't mean you're the quarantine version of a bridezilla so much as you're probably procrastinating from starting another day of this life. Le sigh.

5. Matching athleisure sets

You're trying to do right by yourself, you really are! You've committed to a structured routinize, and you have a go-to online workout that fits into your schedule. The marriage of simple and put-together, clean combos, like these Outdoor Voices Warm Up Shorts ($45) and Athena Crop ($45), help you work toward a single goal: to CRUSH quarantine.

You will still inevitably have three stress-crying fits a day while trying to do all the things. So take time to rest, friend.

6. Business on top, pants-less on the bottom

You are calm, collected, and DGAF. Your day is booked with back-to-back Zoom meetings with technology-challenged folks who take a good four minutes at the start of each meeting to figure out their camera. Keeping everything professional only above the waist means you're a boss and a legend who's committed to keeping things rolling professionally, but you not longer adhere to obsolete societal rules.

7. Sweater suit set

I love me some sweater suits, because they suggest leisure over athleisure every time. Sweater suit sets are aspirational, chic, and composed.

8. T-Shirt and jeans

If you're still committed to this pre-quarantine staple look, I'm not angry, I'm just concerned.

Why are you wearing jeans—or, as we've come to accept them on team Well+Good, "hard pants"—when no one can see them? Clearly it's not to impress anyone, given that no one can see you below the waist. It's likely that pulling on your denim, even in times like these, provides you the "keep calm and carry on" coping mechanism for weathering this situation as you try to cling to remaining threads of life as you previously knew it.

9. A full-blown accessorized outfit

We're talking jewelry, makeup, hair done, nails polished. Hell, maybe you're even wearing a dress. You aren't in denial about the precarious state of the world, but you do have some major control issues about the situation. But the ritual of dressing up is helping to keep you from melting down, so keep shining, quarantine fashionistas.

10. Kimono, tiara, and a glass of wine

You have drunk FaceTimed at least two ex-lovers screaming "THERE ARE NO RULES NOW," before hanging up. And, hey, I respect that about you.

Our editors independently select these products. Making a purchase through our links may earn Well+Good a commission.

Loading More Posts...