Is it OK to tell someone else to wear one – and which style looks good on you? Over to the experts …
• Twenty masks for all occasions
Nearly six months after the coronavirus overturned our lives, the face mask has finally, unequivocally, arrived. Until now, it’s had an image problem, but that thinking is shifting, fast. Amid growing evidence that the virus is transmitted through the air, refusing to wear one, particularly indoors, is increasingly becoming a social no-no – not to mention risky. The hashtag #wearadamnmask has been trending on both sides of the Atlantic for good reason.
But look around, and you will see that people are confused. When do you wear one? Why haven’t some politicians been covering up? Scotland’s first minister Nicola Sturgeon has a nice line in tartan masks, but Donald Trump and recovered Covid-19 patient Boris Johnson had resisted wearing them until very recently. Just last week, chancellor Rishi Sunak was criticised for serving Wagamama customers mask-less, a good-news photo opp that backfired. Yet, according to the Guardian’s fashion editor Jess Cartner-Morley, face coverings “are the biggest thing to happen to the optics of our lives in a long time”, and for many of us a radical change to the face we present to the world. (Niqab wearers have always covered up, though you need to wear a mask under their highly breathable fabric, too.) Masks will be with us for as long as coronavirus is – and if they’re not ubiquitous this summer, you can bet they will be this autumn.
Glasses should sit on top of the mask. If the mask fits well, your glasses shouldn’t steam up
Never ridicule anyone for wearing a mask and conversely, don’t mask-monitor others
Wearing a mask makes simple interactions harder, particularly when we’re with people we don’t know so well
Always have a good brow – they’re the first thing anyone will see. They define the eyes. And wear lots of mascara
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