If someone had asked me a little over a year ago if I owned any face masks, I would have thought they were referring to the skincare kind, not the medical kind. The type of mask that has become typical of everyday life is something that I knew nothing about, but that wasn’t the case for everyone.
Masks were first introduced in the late 19th century as a protective measure against disease, although they were really only used by doctors. During the onslaught of the Spanish flu they became a global phenomenon, and while use of them declined following World War I, they have been a relative constant in Asia since. Nowadays, masks don’t just serve as protection against disease, as some people in urban centers use them as air filters due to unfavorable air quality.
Masks have been an emerging force in the fashion industry since 2014, when they were introduced to the runway at China Fashion Week. Prior to the outbreak of covid, celebrities like Ayo and Teo, Future, and Billie Eilish, were all wearing masks, all for their own different purposes. While masks have become less of a fashion statement over the past year due to the necessity of wearing them, they are still able to serve a purpose as a critical piece of an outfit, something that has been proven throughout the pandemic with the emergence of different mask related fashion trends, like coordinating mask and outfit fabrics (as seen on Jill Biden and Talawanda students at prom).
In an article last summer that dealt with the topic of masks Vogue said, “The fashionable mask takes a public good and turns it into an individual statement” (Allaire). With the upcoming lifting of the mask mandate in Ohio, the future of masks is relatively unknown, and while they may not be here to stay in the mainstream, there is no doubt about their influence and contribution to fashion and popular culture.