After the first years of the pandemic nightmare, thousands of people started again they travel through the air. Perhaps the two years we spent in prison and in pajamas at home made the difference between private and public space indistinguishable. Somehow this new look at comfort in clothes it has also influenced the clothes we choose when we travel. Arrivals and departures at the airport are no longer so different from the locker rooms of the gym.

Even before Peter Kern, chief executive of the Expedia group, predicted that this summer air travel experienced unprecedented growth, we all agreed that the elegant passengers of the past remained and air travel lost the luster that once surrounded it.

Valerie Steele, head of the museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology, notes that “air travel used to be full of glamour.” This refers to the time when women wore gloves and hats for traveling, while men had to wear a suit and tie. Today, air travel has become a constant battle for more comfort, cabin space, speedy boarding privileges, and a bag of salted almonds. Airlinesafter all, they consider the passenger public to be luggage in the shape of a person.

Menswear designer John Peskowitz explains that the need for comfort in all spaces dominates today. “Obviously we shouldn’t go back to the ‘formal only’ days, but I’m not ready to allow passengers to board a plane in pajama bottoms.”

Arrivals and departures at the airport are no longer so different from the locker rooms of the gym.

Athletic or unkempt?

The truth is, admits Heather Shimokawa, vice president of Bloomingdale’s department store chain, that the sportswear/underwear hybrid was introduced by fashion journalists, leaving consumers to sort through the new style. “Sportswear is not the same as looking unkempt. Your consolation cannot disgust me,” he concludes.

Does this disrespect us enter a metal tube where we will hang out for hours in comfortable shorts, overalls and flip flops? Pelahio Diaz, an Instagram influencer with a million followers, draws a red line on his bare feet. “Dress nicely. If not for you, then for us. At least wear socks. After all, we will see your legs, ”he said in a telephone interview.

A Delta flight attendant admits: “I check the boarding process and I see a lot of people boarding the plane with bare feet. I’m sure they have shoes somewhere.” And he continues: “Africans and Europeans dress well for traveling. I often greet them in French and they ask me, “Where did you get that from?” “Because you are well dressed,” I reply.

Designer Billy Reed says we shouldn’t treat air travel as a chore. “So why not dress up to celebrate the fact that we can enjoy a privilege that few have? After all, as I tell my children repeatedly, the person sitting next to you on the plane could be your employer tomorrow. So the first impression you make is very important.”