The signal of a Medical mask
(04.05.2020)
By wearing a mask in public you are making a statement. But what is the signal? One of the first thoughts that hits the mind is either: "you are already sick" or "you are healthy and trying to avoid getting infected and thereby sick".
Masks have been used in so many ways through time and with different meanings to these societies, I will try to make an understanding of how the medical mash position itself within the fashion industry, and shed light on some of the paradoxes, the media doesn't seem to address fully according to my understanding as a curious fashion academic.
Before the Corona stuck the most of the world in 2020, websites mostly branded masks under 2 categories: The fashionable party/raver mask for festivals and style-wise expressions, or The medical and protective mask that prevents droplets and dust to enter the wearer's body and lung from getting damaged. The picture on the right Is a commercial foto showing off a fashion product from dollskill.com anno spring 2020.
Some of the things we have to consider though this search is:
These two masks are the cheapest to make in general (both homemade and production-wise). Both have also been proclaimed, by tons of media streams, to be fairly easy for almost everyone to make at home. They are, therefore, to some extent, the most accessible and affordable masks for a larger group of the human population regardless of their living location. The next question is then, do they still work as entended if homemade and as well as the fabricated ones. How are the guidelines for the masks, are they the same, and why should you make/buy a more fashionable mask? Especially when a fabricated mask is sterile and inexpensive, why then, would "the fashion" even be considered and implemented if they show to working lesser good, and wold the choice of a fashion mask only rely on the decision making of the shopping because "they are prettier than the plain white ones"? - I will try to come around all those questions and at least try to enlight some of the different angels to the matter.
The history
The medical-mask Origen
The history of the medical mask started with a hole other design. The first known medical mask is known as "The plague mask". is dated back to the medieval time, and more precisely dated around the 17th-century end. Geographically the plague costume was both designed and created in Europe near France or Italy according to the plague expert Elma Brenner (gathered 10.04.2020 https://www.smithsonianmag.com). The costume is believed to have been firstly associated with the French courts' personal doctor Charles De Lome, who also worked for the "House of Medici", and he should according to Boeckl's recherche (Boeckl, Christine M., Images of plague and pestilence: iconography and iconology, Truman State Univ Press, 2000, p. 15).
"As may be seen on the picture here,
In Rome, the doctors do appear,
When to their patients they are called,
In places by the plague appalled,
Their hats and cloaks, of fashion new,
Are made of oilcloth, dark of hue,
Their caps with glasses are designed,
Their bills with antidotes all lined,
That foulsome air may do no harm,
Nor cause the doctor man alarm,
The staff in hand must serve to show
Their noble trade wherever they go."
—a 17th-century poem from https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/PlagueDoctor
The beak on the mask was designed to be BIG since the snout case was to be filled up with all sorts of plants and herps, that were believed to have aromatic and healing powers to the human body and that the new and better smell would keep the evil at bay, and thereby keeping/frightening the Miasma-air away (From https://www.fastcompany.com/90479846/the-untold-origin-story-of-the-n95-mask? anno 11.04.2020). The two holes located near the nostrils in later versions were designed to have perfumed filters/respirators with mint and etc to sweeten and help with the intense smell of death and herps mixed together (collected from wiki/Miasma_theory anno 10.04.2020) A encounter with a plague doctor at that time, would according to professor Benner "have been both disturbing and frightening, as it surely meant death". Thus, a plague doctor's outfit is a typical go-to-creepy-costume, the resemblance to both the Grim Reaper and Creepy Crows is doing this effect no harm at all that the doctor's suit didn't even reveal a human underneath. A French physician named Antoine Barthélemy Clot-Bey argued that the bird-like plague masks themselves were responsible for the spread of the plague because they made people scared, and a frightened body was at greater risk for disease (from https://www.fastcompany.com/90479846/the-untold-origin-story-of-the-n95-mask? anno 11.04.2020). The costume itself was therefor often associated with death "where there's a plague, there's the beak doctors and therefore also death", which has become deeply ingrained in popular culture ever since (collected from nano https://tvtropes.org10.04.2020).
The plagues doctor's mask & costumes were, therefore, having a symbolic paradox. the common interpretations of this trope were that "doctors, in general, is fit and proper equipt to help you", and another was "the hidden meaning and cultural message, that the costume acts as a symbol of death when showed in theatre plays like Commedia dell'arte, the audience should perceive and understand that the Plague Doctor mask is a source to spreading the plague instead of treating it". Masks are therefore bearers of multiple meanings and have been since first registered in 7000 BC (collected from wiki/Masks_in_theatre anno 10.04.2020).
The Evolution into today's mask
Before the late 1870's it wasn't a common practice to use masks in general sickness protections. but since the discovery of gems, the miasma theory fell apart and doctors adopted the use of face protection. These new masks were sadly nothing more than handkerchiefs or Cotton clothes.
But the intent of masks has also developed. in the beginning, it wasn't recommended as a self-protective tool, rather the opposite. The mask was meant to "prevent/block a doctor's gems" from coughing or sneezing droplets onto week patients wounds during surgery. It wasn't until 1910 when doctor Lien-Teh Wu from Cambridge discovered that some viruses were in fact airborne.
New precautions were thereby made and wearing
a mask became a common practice in protecting yourself from invisible and unknown viruses. The first masks to cover form decides, Wu made out of mixing gaze and cotton and won its place amongst known medical and protective equipment alt the way op till today. Mainly because it was empirical to testing, and proven to protect users from bacteria. Design-wise it was great for the time being (1911) since It could be constructed by hand out of materials that were cheap and in ready supply.
Mask became available to everyone
Medical staff wore them, soldiers wore them, and some everyday people wore them, too. Not only did that help thwart the spread of the plague. According to our time medical anthropologist Christos Lynteris, The mask was a very novel thing of that time. . . it had an effect of strangeness, which the press loved, but you imagine a black-and-white photograph with a white mask—it reads well... it was a marketing success” - Lynteris (who also tackles whit understanding the pandemic epicentre Wuhan and its future critical situations https://theconversation.com/why-shutting-down-chinese-wet-markets-could-be-a-terrible-mistake-130625)
"The masks became a symbol of modern medical science looking an epidemic right in the eye.." -Lynteris.
The Gas Mask
Through World War I and World War II, scientists invented air-filtering gas masks that wrapped around your entire head to clean the air supply. Similar masks, loaded with fibreglass filters, began to be used in the mining industry to prevent black lung, but these when simply too bulky to use and costly to both make and acquire for common people. But according to the health and safety leader today at the mask company 3M, (that manufactures the N95 respirators); they were at least not like those single-use masks as we see today. "All these old respirator masks were giant gas mask-looking things, that you’d wash out at night and then be able to re-use again the day after” -Nikki McCullough
Technology paved the way for the future
The beginning of the respirator/filtered masks new material arouse when 3M and the decor designer Sara Little Turnbull starter experimenting with new products and material possibilities.
“To design is to create order and to function according to a plan.” – Turnbull
She took the "non-woven technology" that was already in development and started experimenting with this melted polymer foam, that was air-blasted into a sort of new fabric, and forced in the creation to hold its original casted form. Firstly used and tested as a new non-woven shoulder pad, in collaboration with her dear friend Adele Simpson, who was a fashion designer of several First Ladies. These new tiny fibres, melted into a polymer bendable form allowed Turnbull to make a whole new line of products, with over 100 new ideas that were introduced in her "WHY" presentation in 1958 to the 3M company.
(from https://designmuseumfoundation.org/ask-why/ anno 11.04.2020).
"Prefabricated components in the mass production of ready-to-wear is the answer to the disappearance of skilled pattern makers, fitters, and tailors." - Turnbull
To the 3M company, she argued "This is not merely being in the ‘textile business.’ This material is a research and development innovation that will bring profits in new markets to 3M . . . [non-woven] makes it possible to create prefabricated components in many industries that have not yet made use of scientific ‘know-how’ to cut labour costs by innovating new production techniques". she argued how the technology would expand and decrease fields of techniques and other skills, For example, making bra cups, that eventually was thought of to have multiple useful functions (in the pic you can see SaraTurnbull's sketch for the 3M).
She made it clear that "the 3M industry, whose history is in the crafts, but whose future is in the technological advancements in product and materials, [like non-woven] has unique characteristics to create new solutions for old unsolved problems." But her focus was never the qualifications of the product, rather opposite, as she focused on demystifying design in general".
“I want to make something better. I want to improve the experience. I’m not interested in the object itself; I’m interested in the behaviour, and why you want and need things.” - Turnbull
The N95 mask is a descendant of Wu’s design and Turnbull's technology
Because of Professor Wu's discovery on the mask's benefits as a medical tool and with the new foldable padded materials from Turnbull's collaboration with the 3M company, the mask design was now in the making (in the pic you can see Sara Turnbull's sketch on a mask). So to our knowledge, the medical mask design of today didn't just happen overnight but has a rather long history and technology evolution with multiple-step in the making. Thanks to this flimsy polymer foam material and "formed to fit" cup-design, the first single-use N95 “dust” respirator, as we know it, was developed and approved on May 25, 1972. Today the 21st Century we still consider this N95 mask, as the cheapest and safest way to protect your mouth and nose from unwanted sickness to enter.
Some scientist is even trying to redesign a double-functions-facemask, where a Bra, easy and fast can be turned int a protective device for your save instead of your breast. (https://patents.google.com/patent/US8109806B2/en) this invention should be considered to be made out of the materials or fabrics used for making the cups and thin body portions, may be conventional materials, such as cotton, rayon, silk, polyesters, nylon, satin, etc., and such materials may exhibit numerous characteristics, such as stretch along with one or more directions, softness and/or smoothness, transparency, or other particular properties one of which must be the ability to filter the air which passes through the fabric of the bra cup.
"We want them to look simple so they’re easy and intuitive to use. We’re always improving the technology, tweaking everything from its filters to its ergonomics and we have thousands of scientists at 3M working on it's design". -McCullough
Mask verities of today
Any mask, whatever it is, is needed in order to hide/show something or help in achieving something. The meanings are therefore worth looking into, but to lose my head and the search through those many varieties of masks: "Carnival, theatrical, sports, professional, protective, military, medical, cosmetic and even emotional mask, which some we can wear every day" I will narrow my field down to a few.
(from https://7thstreettavern.com/ anno 10.04.2020).
The mask purpose
The medical masks types.
The best way yo understand the difference, is having an expert to go over the differences and the purposes of the 3 main mask types (Respirator, Surgical cover and the cloth mask) where an expert from Livescience.com
https://www.livescience.com/coronavirus-doctors-at-risk-face-mask-shortages.html?jwsource=clWhat this article will try to focus on
The distinction between a mask and a respirator is important. A mask is only loosely fitted to the face, where a respirator is sealed closely to the face, and prevent particles and droplets to enter from the sides since all gasps are closed. This means that "Respirators creates an airtight seal so they actually filter inhalation" by Mark Wilson.
According to the medical guidelines today from "verywellhealth.com" and "WHO" the "World Health Organisation" Guidelines on mask usage, I will compare these with the requirements of a fashin mask of today (Collected from https://www.verywellhealth.com/can-medical-masks-prevent-viral-infections-4798665 anno 10.04.2020).
Narrowing the field of masks means that I'm only going to address the two top masks: the "surgical facemask" and the "N95 respirator" mask. since this will allow my analyses of today's masks whit their requirements and how they are perceived in society with their hidden meanings and symbolic value. By narrowing the field I will allow this research to have the proper time, to learn and understand theoretically how and why these two masks have made their way into today fashion systems.
When should you wear a medical mask
According to our previous decision, we are only focusing on two types of masks here: the surgical facemask" and the "N95 respirator (difference)
At this moment of 2020's corvid-19 pandemic, the
WHO.org stresses that "it is critical that medical masks and respirators should be prioritized for health care workers." This decision is made on the profound situations lack of needed materials for those in critical situations and need. It is known that at the moment there is a shortage of supplies for all sectors and it therefor imported, according to Health experts advises, that the masks are rationed to those who need them the most and "there’s no need for healthy people to go around wearing masks". The only occasions where WHO is recommending healthy people to use masks are:
When you have to be in a room with another (maybe) infected individual, carrying the corvid-19 virus.
When you feel slightly ill, sneezes or couch. (Use a mask until you have been symptom-free for 48 hours).
when using masks, note that they are only effective, if you remember to wash hands regularly, and don't touch your face (eyes, nose mouth) with infections on your hands.
But what about people with vulnerable health and weaker immune systems? or those who cant social distance from critical areas? These people are recommended to use masks of all sorts (guidelines by president D. Trump https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/03.16.20_coronavirus-guidance_8.5x11_315PM.pdf) but so far no one regulates, that there are measures to be made and quality checks like these ones should consider:
WHO is strongly encouraging countries that issue recommendations for the use of masks in healthy people in the community to conduct research on this critical topic. The following features related to nonmedical masks should be taken into consideration:
In Denmark, they have just started the 8 of April 2020 with mask testing in general, as a collaboration with the retailer Salling Group and Nordsjællands Hospital. Together they are testing 6000 Danes, and sort them into 2 groups to see if the mask has any or the desired effect when used in public spaces, with a minimum of at least 3 hours of social exposure every day (collected from https://www.nordsjaellandshospital.dk/coronamaske-kunder anno 11.04.2020)
WHO's Required features of masks:
• Numbers of layers of fabric/tissue
• The breathability of the material used
• Water repellence/hydrophobic qualities
• Shape of mask
• Fit of mask
This list issues the importance of not just what materials should be used, but also the many standards and health elements to consider before the mask is acknowledged as a tool against both pollution and dangerous droplets.
WHO's Guidelines
• Place the mask carefully, ensuring it covers the mouth and nose, and tie it securely to minimize any air gaps between the face and the mask.
• Avoid touching the mask while wearing it.
• Remove the mask using the appropriate technique: do not touch the front of the mask but untie it from behind.
• Replace masks as soon as they become damp with a new clean, dry mask.
• Do not re-use single-use masks.
• Discard single-use masks after each use and dispose of them immediately upon removal.
• After removal or whenever a used mask is inadvertently touched, clean hands using an alcohol-based hand rub or soap and water if hands are visibly dirty.
"A pleated paper mask costs only about a nickel, but they are used once and then thrown away. Cloth masks cost 30 to 40 cents but are often washed and reused for a year". - Dr. Richard E. Peltier. https://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/23/health/that-cloth-mask-for-smoggy-days-a-paper-one-works-better.html?auth=link-dismiss-google1tap
CDC's guidelines
https://megaphone.link/CBS3732077793
Bonus Info
• The longer you wear an N95 respirator, the more efficient it becomes at filtering out particles. More particles just help filter more particles.
• The N95 respirator isn’t designed to seal well to the face of children or those with facial hair, and if it doesn’t seal, it doesn’t work as advertised and therefore not perfect.
• Breathing becomes more difficult over time as those gaping holes between the fibres get clogged up with particles, which is why an N95 respirator can’t be worn for more than about eight hours at a time in a very dusty environment. It doesn’t stop filtering; it just prevents you from breathing comfortably.
• The N95 variants that are worn in operating rooms don’t have an exhalation valve, so they can get particularly hot to wear.
Newest Update on their protective lv.
No, You Do Not Need Face Masks To Prevent Coronavirus—They Might Increase Your Infection Risk
Minorities that's gets overlooked
According to what we know by now, is that the mask only protects as intended if you are e within the spectrum of the proper common consumer. I will, therefore, list some of the groups that are not considered in the design process of protecting people. (here are some groups that have been forgotten in the consideration of protecting people).
Kids -> since their heads aren't nearly big enough to fill out the gaps in the standard mask, they are forced to slightly exposure until old enough.
Men with facial hair -> since the beard most likely will challenge the sealing opportunities, with a big and fluffy beard in the way.
People using ALS -> since most masks are covering the whole mouth and almost 50% of the face, sign language and mouth-reading aren't really possible for most masks, but as we can see in the pic, there do exist masks for those minorities, their problem is, it isn't as safe without the many filters and carbon valves and they, therefore, have to make a compromise between their safety or by limiting their communication in the public room (mental isolation).
A homemade mask VS. Medical masks?
The guideline above clearly points out that a homemade-mask is in no way near close to being approved as a health tool against infections, if those requirements have to be followed. Just to make it more understandable I have here a chart over different materials density and therefore their ability to block out particles.
Surgical and N95 masks are made in materials similar to the vacuum-cleaner bags or better, with build-in vents having small carbon filters. Underneath here there is an index showing what those two masks abilities and boundaries are.
"Keep in mind that if you’re wearing a mask, do not touch the centre of it that lies around your nose and mouth. Do not dab it even if you are sweating and do not remove it to talk to people while outdoors and no, you cannot reuse them once they are soiled".- Eli Perencevich (via Forbes)
Fabric masks are often recommended by fabric retailers (or by governments in critical situations) to be worn as an alternative to a medical mask. But if a homemade mask should be considered equal to the functions of the medical mask it should at least be close to fulfilling similar standards. but since companies (like joann.com) recommend homemade masks often to be made entirely out of 100% Cotter (which we know only has a density of 69%) they are therefore far from being able to be considered "protective" within the healthcare systems requirement. And knowing that pleated paper mask costs only about a nickel, but they are used once and then thrown away where Cloth masks cost 30 to 40 cents are therefore often washed and reused for about a year it most important to remember that a fabric/homemade mask Is non-protective! since it can't: -> be fluid protective, when made in liquid absorbing fabrics.
-> be disposed of after every use, reasoned the expenses within the product and that discarding expensive fabric at a high rate, would be unethical in other ways.
May block large particles ejected from sneezing and coughing.
Might help protect others from your sneezes and coughs if you acquired the virus but are otherwise asymptomatic and in public.
Could encourage more mindful behaviour, including avoiding touching one's mouth, nose and eyes.
Peace of mind.
As a specialised professor in infection- preventions put it "Masks won’t protect the average person. Because they will wear them incorrectly and auto-contaminate themselves. I’ve never seen a person practice hand hygiene before removing a mask in public and then after removing the mask"- Eli Perencevich (via Forbes).
Purpose conclusion
A non-medical mask doesn't live up to the requirements
Knowing that makes it clear to me, those homemade masks have to be separated into something else. This means that any mask that isn't living up to the medical guidelines, and requirements by WHO. will be considered a fashion mask aka a homemade-statement with no other purpose than to be fashionable.
The fashion mask, and its functions
The mask as a fashion statement has been a growing trend since the start of this minimum, but the question is, is it just a tren? the most of us can recollect a memory of the king of pop Michael Jackson wearing a mask at either a ret Galla event, or on the road in his normal "everyday" living while trying to stay out of the public eye.
It's said that he suffers from mysophobia. shortly described as a severe fear of germs and bacteria in general. Mr Jackson was known to suffer from this belief and therefore used a face mask as much as possible while he was travelling on his tours. Many people have been lead to believe that wearing a mask was “better than nothing,” as the author Kabindra M. Shakya said.
But as we know now experts have expressed their thoughts on the matter of a mask used wrongly:
"I have noticed people wearing cloth-based reusable masks with filter pockets. These are great in the fight against air pollution but don’t work in coronavirus prevention. They simply have cute patterns attached with the risks of wearing them wrong as mentioned above, and furthermore I have seen people wearing masks that leave their nose exposed, letting it hang around the mouth and chin as fashionably." - Eli Perencevich
From now on its just notes! sorry!
- dør af manglende bakterier Protective -> michael jackson just 10 years ago.
Lovgivningen i dk
black communitie ->
Should your Hotness be considered?
If the only aspect in one's decision making would be decided regarding their fashion choice, a recherche from 2016 shows, that:
Wearing a mask can make you look less attractive since a white surgical mask (no matter the intend) does two things; "firstly, wearing a mask limits how much facial expression you can show, and also hides the skin, lips and other sexualised features which humans often rely on to judge one's beauty and other common points of attraction". Secondly, the study left the professors Kawahara and Miyazaki with a hunch/feeling that "the white masks, was reflecting imperfections on the bearer, given its long-standing connection with hospitals, imparts a sickly or unhealthy aura". according to the studies from the University of Hokkaido and Nagoya’s Chukyo University (From https://soranews24.com/2016/02/23/wearing-a-white-mask-will-make-you-less-attractive-according-to-japanese-researchers-experiment/ anno 10.04.2020) But this led me to another of their researches, that showed the complete opposite if the mask is coloured pink.
women who rated “attractive” while mask-less, increasing to 105 % more attractive when they were wearing a pink mask!
Wearing a pink mask makes a woman appear significantly more attractive.
So if Kawahara and Miyazaki’s result had you worried about being seen as "both sickly and ugly", but you’ve still determined on wearing a mask, maybe you’d consider slipping on a pink one instead. Since they should have the opposite effect and even make you more attractive. Here are some of the key findings of the point system based on the respondent's ratings "how attractive they thought the people in the photos were, on a scale from 1 to 100": (From https://soranews24.com/2015/10/04/breaking-research-from-japan-wearing-a-pink-face-mask-makes-you-more-attractive/ anno 10.04.2020)
For males ->
the average maskless score was 41.7 --> versus the white-masked bearers average of 39.
For females ->
The average score without masks was 49.1, --> compared to 44.7 for those wearing white masks.
Pink study on Women ->
The average rated attractiveness while mask-less skyrocketed to 104% more attractive when wearing a pink mask.
(compared to when they were wearing a white one.)
Cold you make your own medical facemask, like these...
we all hear about
https://www.cnet.com/how-to/coronavirus-face-mask-what-you-need-to-know-about-making-a-covering-at-home/ - What's the difference between a face mask and a face covering?
What works
They don't work!
To understand the importent how the Medical masks are
Fahion statement
disposable masks or fashion masks
So, Are Disposable Face Masks Really In Fashion?
thug fashion
Why Future & Young Thug Are Wearing Couture Surgical Masks
celebs are using masks 2019 http://whatstrending.com/video/celebrities-are-wearing-surgical-masks-as-fashion-now/
Stilen sickly cute
Black mask fashion
The fashionable medical masks and its scene
burning man
The only place where it makes sense as a trend
in kink
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Nudging - adførds manipurende https://www.etsy.com/listing/770822394/hand-sewn-face-mask-with-embroidery-sick
Style wise
sadly not Fake news
800% i bsting i pris
Sundhed -> vand i lungerne -> hygiejne = 1 dags brug
nyt design = Anti pille i ansigtet.
Lovgivning -> maskerings forbud
arabisk kultur -> https://www.dr.dk/nyheder/tema/tildaekningsforbud
ulovligt som mode, hvis ingen funktion https://politi.dk/-/media/mediefiler/dokumenter/landsdaekkende/tildaekningsforbud/orienteringomtildaekningsforbuddet.pdf?la=da&hash=501DF1D3096B4375A298175C6ECD1AF794CB9C3D
Ethic or fashion washion
fashion statement
= dårligt imunforsvar
Fetish VS merchendise
Meme Culture
the southpark
Online Fan culture
official music video:
LEAGUE OF LEGENDS | K/DA - POP/STARS Cinematic Music Trailer
Fashion Fan culture
who benefits from the trend
the mask as a trend https://www.furilia.com/unbelievable-coronavirus-mask-has-become-a-trend/
fitness blogger under the nickname@fitnessoskar,
Paris Spring 2020 - Marine Serre (Details) Browse all details pictures of Marine Serre at Paris Fashion Week Spring 2020.
Camp or political
olitical here
Semiotics tool
Annonymus or a "janushoved" https://books.google.dk/books?id=B9TqFd-LfoQC&pg=PA239&lpg=PA239&dq=janus+head+theater+meaning&source=bl&ots=j6V3xIoi81&sig=ACfU3U2w491nY9HWqYbm0-SZxm9Ce5WrYQ&hl=da&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiH7cSPlcfoAhUJIcUKHUiaDFYQ6AEwC3oECAsQKw#v=onepage&q=janus%20head%20theater%20meaning&f=false s. 239
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