Hannah Betts
The new fashion rule for masks
Masks on public transport have been with us for a week. (And can our menfolk please note that they are supposed to cover mouth and nose.) In a fortnight, we will be sporting them in hairdressers and nail bars, with theatres surely to follow.
It is already fashionable to moan about them: they’re hot, they smudge our lipstick. However, I put it to you, dear reader, that it is still more fashionable to work them – as in “werk”, that modish usage describing those who are rocking it. A quarterly report from fashion search engine Lyst has shown a 496 per cent surge in quests for masks, deeming a version by Off White, featuring white arrows on black, as the (sold out at £65 each) accessory du jour. Model Heidi Klum has matched a monochrome mask to her jacket, while designers Christopher Kane and Julien Macdonald are already at it. My first experiments in facial-covering chic came courtesy of Sylvia Young, founder of Beau Monde, who has been concocting couture masks. A chap on the bus cheered for my entire journey (which soon became rather wearing).
Last week, I acquired a floral mask, top and skirt combo from Tabitha Webb. As I type, I await David Watson numbers in zebra, houndstooth and Poirot moustache-style, while coordinating scrunchies are on their way from elsewhere. I am toying with matching my mask to my bra care of Bluebella.
For those of us who like to leave no fashion fetish unturned, masks are the new scarves. A suffocating obligation, for some, has become an accessorising opportunity for others.