“I believe the next main fashion trend will be half face masks, made of leather or other soft materials.”
Trend forecaster Nataly Izchukov said those words at the beginning of 2016, long before masks became a (literal) must-have.
It turns out that trend forecasters actually do forecast the future.
But seriously, face masks have been trending for a few years now.
In the Far East, especially in Japan and China, face masks are part of the culture. In recent years, the covered face look made it out West, including designer masks.
Early adopters of the trend in the West are Generation Zers (hey Gen Xers, these are your children), a generation that has a soft spot in their hearts for guerrilla and post-apocalyptic style. After all, those kids were born into a world full of terror, air pollution, and pandemic outbreaks – post 9/11, SARS, the 2008 economic recession, Ebola, climate change, and other fun events
Gen Z ready for the end of the world, with a little help from Nike:
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Even before half face masks became the prevailing accessories on the streets and on Instagram, they were approached by quite a few fashion houses and influencers – especially those affiliated with Generation Z.
Off-White –Total look of sweatshirt and face:
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Vetements – Apocalypse Now:
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Supreme – When the world ends, wear an optimistic color:
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Human Made for Highsnobiety – The future seems to be both bleak and cute:
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Billie Eilish is totally into it:
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She also has a look for cocktail parties:
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And what about the senior luxury brands? Over the past few months, they’ve rolled up their silk sleeves and joined in global efforts against the novel coronavirus.
Ralph Lauren has started making medical masks and gowns, and Louis Vuitton owner LVMH is converting its perfume production factories to start making hand sanitizer. Luxury brand face masks are probably on the way.
In the meantime —
Designer Sheron Barber is known for making original pieces based on designer items. He takes apart bags and jackets and transforms them into new items – like faux-bulletproof vests (did someone say guerrilla chic?). He recently announced that he started making masks from Louis Vuitton items. Nicolas Ghesquière himself couldn’t have done it better:
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Regarding the effectiveness of homemade masks, it seems that they might do a better job at preventing further spread of the virus, rather than protecting us from catching it.
The 2020 coronavirus pandemic will be remembered, among other things, as an event in which entire countries were shut down for the sake of protecting at-risk groups. If this courteous state of mind continues, we may find ourselves still wearing masks even after the outbreak is over. Spraying others with our germs is so 2019.
That’s me and my homemade mask. Tyra, do you approve of my Smize?
Leave a reply! Do you think you’ll still be wearing masks even after the coronavirus crisis is behind us?