- The mask is now mandatory in certain conditions to fight against the coronavirus epidemic.
- The accessory can be stylized, especially homemade ones, and could become a fashion accessory in its own right.
- Sociologist Frédéric Godart and fashion historian Marie-Laure Gutton explain to 20 Minutes that there are many obstacles before the mask becomes a fashion item.
Sopaline type, duckbill or homemade ... Mandatory in transport, highly recommended everywhere else, the masks are the focus of many ex-confined people who want to get them so they can go out safely.
But will the mask become, like the fan, the hat or the tie, a fashion accessory? Will we have spring summer collections of masks in the future? Will Chanel and La Redoute compete for the market? Will we choose our mask to reflect our personality, our state of mind, the place we intend to occupy in the social pyramid?
"It is too early to answer these questions," says Frédéric Godart, sociologist and fashion specialist. But we can discuss the thing. »Phew.
The long history of impractical accessories
To try to guess the place that the mask will have in the locker room in the future, Marie-Laure Gutton, head of the Accessories Department at the Palais Galliera, Fashion Museum of the City of Paris, takes things from the start: Nefertiti. “Gold ornaments such as jewelry and fashion accessories have all had a practical function in the past. Among the ancient Egyptians, for example, gloves had to protect from heat. The fans are used to chase away odors or flies. Shoes also have a practical function at the outset, that of protecting the foot. Over time, these objects sometimes change to identify a social rank, the scarf that protected the throat from the wind becomes the tie. And finally, they can become objects of fashion, luxury. Sometimes, as a fashion item, the accessory goes against its original practical function, for example with heeled shoes… ”
Let's go back to our masks. Will we soon be able to wear them like we wear a hat or a necklace on a cell phone? "The practice of wearing a mask will impose itself in the West, as it has become almost traditional in Asia, even if there is resistance, analyzes Frédéric Godart. However, the step to take to make it a fashion object is great. The sociologist is already very surprised at how he has settled into our lives in two months. “The semiology of the mask has completely reversed. Previously, the one who wore a mask was ostracized, he was a dangerous person. Today, the mask wearer is healthy, he has a healthy practice. He even sends a message of solidarity with his mask, he warns of the danger, wants to be useful to society by not getting sick ... This change is spectacularly rapid, and will remain a textbook case. Never has an accessory experienced such a strong turnaround. "
The mask, or the other bread
Another new dimension of the mask that our specialists noted with surprise is the way it is made. While the government was struggling to get them, the French decided to make them themselves. “There is, in the emergence of masks as an accessory, a notion of personal DIY that is fairly new in fashion, notes Frédéric Godart. This emergence is part of a context where Do It Yourself (DIY) is in tune with the times, and has a political dimension, unlike the couture of yesteryear. "Marie-Laure Gutton also admires this movement but tempers:" Making your mask yourself is also participating in a momentum. But you can't do anything with a mask to keep it up to standard. Embroidery or rhinestones violate the health function of the mask, for example. I don't think they can withstand a machine run at 60 °… ”
The fashion historian also notes that “brands have been overtaken by DIY. They were perhaps still a little afraid of being accused of opportunism if they offered masks. From a brand point of view, the object will, in my opinion, remain very disturbing. In our very active society, we don't really like constraints. It will be difficult to find pleasure in wearing a mask. There are, however, some exceptions. After all, stars also need to wear masks. Off White has a very popular mask at 900 euros. Does it protect against coronavirus? Nothing is less sure. These masks were imagined by brands who have found that they are becoming popular to protect themselves from pollution.
An essence and a taboo
For the moment, the luxury groups having announced to launch into the production of masks against the coronavirus have done so for a public health purpose and not with a stylistic objective and even less profit (except in terms of image …) “The mask will remain an object very charged with meaning vis-à-vis the context of its appearance, thus analyzes Marie-Laure Gutton. The hat can have a diverted function which allows its wearers to stand out. For the mask, the very essence of the object remains its sanitary utility. Standing out will be difficult. "
Frédéric Godart explains that the mask is still an object that standardizes the population. Hence the emergence of homemade masks, in specific fabrics. The sociologist notes that the main obstacle to accepting the mask as a fashion accessory is that it is "taboo, and even illegal, to hide one's face in public space. It's quite fascinating to note that the controversies over the wearing of the veil will disappear after having occupied a lot of discussions ... "The fashion historian also notes that the common cloakroom contains few objects like the mask:" Hiding the face is very unusual in fashion. There were veils, very fashionable at the end of the 19th century and at the beginning of the 20th, which were used to protect themselves from light or dust but which one hardly sees any more than at the time of certain marriages. There was also, in the early days of the automobile, an integral hood with an integrated visor. It was a hallmark of drivers and car owners. "
Generation Z to the rescue
Assigned to a sanitary use, anxiety-provoking, shunned by brands, absent from the history of fashion ... The mask will have a hard time coming to rub shoulders with scarves, umbrellas and caps. Unless Generation Z gets involved. "I saw tutorials on YouTube to make up her mask, to make a kind of sham," noted Marie-Laure Gutton. “It will be interesting to observe the media machine, explains Frédéric Godart. Will the mask be accepted as a fashion and luxury accessory? No doubt there will be different phases and different messages, as for the skirt that carried and still carries the contradictory messages of women's liberation and enslavement to patriarchy. For the generation of the kiss and the hand tightening, the mask could remain an object linked to the disease. It will perhaps be more banal, to see, by processes of accessorization, carrying claiming messages for the youngest… ”
The Museum of Decorative Arts has already planned to integrate its future luxury exhibition a bottle of hydroalcoholic gel produced by LVMH. Will the masks be part of the Palais Galliera collections? "Why not, laughs Marie-Laure Gutton. I will submit the idea. Without entering our changing rooms, the mask would thus integrate the great history of fashion accessories.
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