Function over fashion with office face masks
Dear Answer Angel Ellen: As my office “fashion plate” (it doesn’t take much), I had the dilemma this morning of deciding how to accessorize my face mask. Does it need to match my tie? My suit? Does it really matter? I went with the (blue) tie.
— David G.
Dear David: No, the color/ pattern of your face mask doesn’t really matter. It just needs to do the job it is intended for, namely to minimize the spread of COVID germs. So, whether you are wearing that mask because you want to be considerate of others, the government demands it or because you are required to by a sign on the door saying you can’t come in without one, the crucial thing is to cover your nose and mouth! I cannot believe the number of people I see who wear the mask below the nose making it utterly useless in preventing the spread of disease! Many people choose to support a favorite sports team or a charity, cause or political candidate on their masks. If wearing those slogan masks to your workplace, be sure to check whether there are any rules, written or not, that might make it unwise to do so.
Dear Answer Angel Ellen:
As work from home continues, I’m getting bombarded with ads like this one from clothier American Giant: “The Track Pant: sweats you can leave the house in.” The copy on the email ad says these are “more structured
The color/pattern of your face mask doesn’t really matter. It just needs to do the job it is intended for.
and put together.” But I click on the picture and they look like regular sweatpants to me. Big deal. Lands’ End recently mailed me a catalog that says “let’s get comfy” right on the cover. It is filled with clothes that are variations on sweatshirts (a dress, a tunic). Am I missing something here? What’s with the sweats frenzy?
— Randi L.
Dear Randi: When nobody (co-workers, bosses) is looking at us, many of us lucky enough to still have a job and working from home tend to wear less constrictive, structured clothing than the office attire of pre-pandemic days. Seeing an opening, companies are doing their best to entice us to buy new stuff that is a step or two up from a ragged Tshirt, our old high school track sweatpants or the skintight “athleisure” leggings that we would wear to the gym (and sometimes everywhere else) when the gym was still open for business. Can we agree that not everyone looks great in that skintight legwear? My advice: Wait for the sales and look in the
mirror before you step out of the house.
Angelic Readers
I would never have guessed that so many of you have such strong opinions — pro and con — about the virtues of lining kitchen shelves with shelf paper in response to reader Kathy K.’s question about whether she should go to the trouble of lining her new kitchen cabinet shelves to protect her investment. “Shelf Liner — Yes!” writes Cindy W, while Karen M. says, “I vote no!” Many readers like Georgette C., Cathy D., Patty P., JoAnne B.’s daughter, Judith K., Betty K., Heidi S., Adrienne C. and Kathryn T. are big fans of heavy, clear vinyl which is easy, they say, to sponge off and lasts forever such as Plast-O-Mat (amazon.com, $14.99 and up).
Now it’s your turn
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