The five unexpected trends which took the world by storm during the 2020 coronavirus pandemic

Leather trousers, in-store shopping and group exercise. Back in January, these were the trends predicted to take over the world in 2020.

But thanks to the coronavirus pandemic which turned the year - and the world - upside down, impractical clothing, extravagant shopping trips and getting a sweat on with 20 other people fell right to the bottom of our priority lists.

With everyone forced to stay at home, avoid close contact with others and rethink the ways in which they spent their time, the predicted trends gave way to new behaviours, attitudes and styles which would define the year we'll never forget.

Loungewear

It doesn’t take a genius to work out why loungewear became the fashion must-have this year.

Stores have reported record sales since the world was plunged into lockdown back in March. Missguided said their sales of loungewear rose by 700 per cent. Asos reported having sold almost 200,000 pairs of their own brand leggings in the first lockdown alone. And John Lewis’ slipper sales doubled in just the first month of us all being stuck indoors.

As people got used to working from home, being furloughed and learning in virtual classrooms, the focus on appearance of clothing gave way to comfort levels.

Leggings and joggers replaced jeans, slippers saw heels pushed to the back of the wardrobe and shirts and blazers were shunned in favour of baggy tees and hoodies.

Home workouts

On March 20, Boris Johnson announced that gyms were among the businesses which would be forced to close as the British public were told to stay at home to stop the spread of coronavirus.

Gym-goers across the country lamented the decision. Some were worried they would gain back the weight they had lost in the first few months of the year, while others feared they would lose the muscle gains they had made.

Within hours, kettlebells, hand weights and resistance bands became like gold dust, with every online store selling gym equipment displaying ‘out of stock’ messages on most of their items.

Fitness influencers and companies like Gymshark flooded Instagram with at-home exercise ideas and live workouts. TV personality and fitness coach Joe Wickes also helped millions across the country keep fit with his daily ‘P.E with Joe’ sessions which were tuned into by young and old everyday throughout lockdown.

Outdoor walks and runs were also popular this year, after the Government said we could only go outdoors once a day for daily exercise.

Suddenly, instead of being a dreaded chore, getting your body moving outside in the fresh air became a thing to look forward to everyday.

Zoom quizzes

With a lot more time on their hands during lockdown, families and friend groups turned to FaceTime, Zoom and Skype to keep in touch and enjoy each other’s company while socially distancing.

Quizzes and game nights became the substitute for a dinner party or night at the pub, with households taking it in turns to plan activities, write questions and decide on themes.

Even birthday parties, hen nights and baby showers were held virtually over Zoom, and screenshots showing groups smiling and cheersing through their camera lenses flooded social media.

More recently, companies have been holding virtual Christmas parties, with anything from a festive cooking competition to a cocktail making night having been organised to inject some festive cheer into a lockdown Christmas.

Baking

Baking was another boredom buster which proved extremely popular during lockdown.

Flour, sugar and baking powder flew off the shelves in March, and supermarkets across the country reported yeast shortages as people bought up all the key ingredients needed to turn their home into the Great British Bake Off tent.

The number of baking posts on Instagram rose by hundreds of thousands as people showed off their finished products. And no recipe was as popular as that for banana bread, which was the most searched for in 2020.

But experts said boredom wasn’t the only reason for the surge in aspirant Mary Berrys.

Psychologists also concluded that the acts of kneading, mixing and rolling helped people to calm down and release tension.

Fun, productive and de-stressing? It’s no wonder that we turned to baking this year.

At-home haircuts and beauty treatments

Despite fancy clothes having become redundant in lockdown, that didn’t mean that people lost all care when it came to appearance.

In a matter of weeks, partners, friends, sons and daughters had become our own personal hairdressers. People took on the tasks of painting their own nails, whitening their own teeth and even giving their own eyelashes a lift, with results - some good and some very bad - posted on social media for the world to see.

And despite the initial popularity of at-home beauty treatments, it became clear very quickly that these were habits which were unlikely to stick.

When lockdown ended in July, hairdressers were fully booked within days; people clearly desperate to reverse the mistakes they’d made by taking a pair of scissors or a DIY hair dye kit to their own heads in the months they spent at home.

People raced to reserve appointments with nail technicians and beauty therapists, proving that in spite of the at-home hacks, when it came to beauty, the ‘new normal’ was very much a temporary one.

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