Talk about making the best of a bad situation.
When fashion designers and clothiers found their business adversely affected by covid-19, it didn't take them long to create a new fashion trend out of a new necessity: face masks, which the Centers for Disease Control advises people to wear during the pandemic.
Designers joined average-Jane seamstresses — seasoned and impromptu — in making free face masks to donate to beleaguered health-care workers and men and women on the street. Then the designers took theirs a little further. Masks became fashion statements, even matching accessories for clothing items and outfits. In a May 29 piece, Lindzi Scharf of the Los Angeles Times writes that because of the pandemic, "face masks have inadvertently become fashion's hottest summer accessory."
Some of the best-known public figures bit. House speaker Nancy Pelosi has been noted by The New York Times and other publications for regularly appearing in masks that match or coordinate with her sartorial ensembles. (The May 20 article also makes mention of Slovakian President Zuzana Caputova, and French President Emmanuel Macron, for matching their masks to their attire.) There's now such a thing as the "trikini" — swim top, bottom and mask. Lizzo, the singer, sported one in a recent Instagram photo.
The Los Angeles Times story, along with a May 16 BBC News story, names a number of designers and companies that have offered masks in the same colorful patterns as their clothing, including Givenchy, which came out with a mask-and-cap combination. The website eShakti.com ("We design. You customize.") offered masks to match dresses. D'iyanu, an e-retailer of clothing made of recurring African Ankara print fabric, offers masks in the same patterns as some of its outfits. And yes, there are even masks to go with one's wedding gown. But then, even as far back as February, French designer Marine Serre featured matching masks in her show during Paris Fashion Week and had done so previously.
Needless to say, Arkansas fashion creators have been offering some mask-enhanced ensembles of their own.
ART, UNMASKED
Cheryl Keller of Framed in Fashion (framedinfashion.com) combined art with fashion design and extended that combination to include masks.
On a whim, the Fayetteville resident and retired court reporter applied her artwork to the back of a shirt. She found a North Carolina company to print the art on their fabrics. Keller's sister and business partner, Kathleen Schwarz of Dallas, made the shirt "and then took the idea [for the company] and ran with it," Keller says. The women showed their collection, which includes other pieces, at Northwest Arkansas Fashion Week in October.
"As soon as we started hearing about the coronavirus, Kathleen said she wanted to make masks." Keller's sister got together with an ICU nurse and worked out her design so that it would be made appropriately. "Then covid-19 really started hitting, and she was in full-swing production."
The masks have been well received. The women offer them free to front-line workers. They charge others $10. "But it truly has been a labor of love," Keller says.
"We started with the same fabrics we had made our previous collections from. As we sold out of those quickly, Kathleen began using cotton and batik fabrics she had, and applying smaller pieces of art in other fabrics that she had on hand — fabrics that might not have been appropriate for the entire mask but made for a great fashion statement."
Framed in Fashion masks are made in one style — pleated, with a pocket for a filter and a wire in the top of the nose area to allow a closer fit. However, no two masks are exactly the name.
"We put in our style with the placement of the art, the way Kathleen chooses to place the pleats to highlight the art" and other details, Keller says.
Alyssa Graves of Rogers, designer of A. Brook's Designs &Apparel, definitely believes that "we have now gone from necessity to fashion statements as regulations are lifting and more people are out in public."
HIP NEW ESSENTIAL
About a month ago, the Bentonville native began making matching mask-garment sets, including what she calls an "Essentials" set consisting of a face mask with matching scrunchie and shopping tote. "Since one of the main reasons people are starting to go out is to shop, having an outfit that matches can be fun and display some personality." Her fashionable face shields include a couture set consisting of a sheer dress and matching mask. She also made a lace bridal face mask, complete with several layers of tightly-woven fabric to line it for a bride who has had to postpone her wedding due to covid-19. She sees fashion mask sets as being embraced by fashion trendsetters. "Those whose personal style is important to them are definitely more likely to adopt this first."
Graves, whose designs can be shopped at etsy.com/shop/ABrooksapparel, is selling Essentials sets for $30-$45, depending on scrunchie style and tote size. She is also offering mask-and-scrunchie duos for $18 (masks by themselves are $14, including shipping). Couture sets with masks are offered at prices that vary according to the client's preferences, cost of fabric and complexity of the garments.
In the Little Rock area, designers such as Linda Rowe Thomas and Korto Momolu, both veterans of New York Fashion Week, are busy making face masks the new outfit component.
Momolu, of Maumelle, decided that as a designer, it was her duty to help people see the potential in making face masks a part of their normal daily life.
"It not only helps with keeping us safe during covid-19, but you look fashionable as well," says the Project Runway reality-show runner-up, whose main collection includes masks that match summer tops (kortomomolu.com). The mask-and-top sets are $40-$60, but the masks can be bought individually for $20-$30. Custom and bulk orders are also available upon request.
"My designer mask is for the fashion oriented and professionals that want something more to express who they are," Momolu says, adding that incarnations bear such details as biblical scripture, star-shaped appliques, animal brooches and authentic African textured fabrics. Her mask options and combos are being well received; some customers are even requesting custom prints. For men, Momolu plans to introduce masks that match pocket squares and bow ties.
THE FUTURE ... MASKED
The designers believe the fashion-mask trend will stick around, to some extent.
Specifically, Keller believes uniform-coordinating masks will remain a favorite accessory among front-line workers. "They love the ability to express their individuality,"she says.
Graves says that considering that covid-19 cases are still going up in the state, mask recommendations are probably not going away.
"I think more will embrace it over time, once they realize how easy it is to coordinate masks with outfits and still show their personality, even while protecting others and themselves," she says. "I truly believe [these ensembles] will gain traction as we continue to open up our communities again. People will be going back to work, going to stores and restaurants."
She, too, sees front-line workers as carrying it on: Her sister, a physician, has requested several masks of different colors to match her outfits as she sees patients in a clinical setting. Besides, the masks can be converted to other accessories if the need for them declines. It depends on the style of mask: "If you have a pleated mask, you can unassemble it and create hair accessories or wrist wraps," she says. " You can definitely repurpose the material for something else."
Although Momolu is starting small to gauge interest before making more elaborate mask sets, she says she believes masks are here to stay until a proven covid-19 vaccine is introduced.
"Regardless of where or who you purchase your mask from — just wear one," she says. "Choose your weapon and continue on this fight toward a healthier future."