Designers making stylish Covid masks for weddings, parties, anything

Boujee brides and glamour pusses are masking up in style for their special events, with designers making custom masks to suit any style.

Connie Carusello and fiance John Barbuscio will marry soon, with the bride wearing a beaded mask made to match her dress. Picture: David Geraghty

New mask rules add a “whole new ballgame” to preparing brides for their big day, according to glamour dress designer Jason Grech.

With mask rules set to stay for some time, he said bridal parties were requesting custom masks that complemented their outfits.

“It’s about making them look like a fashion piece, just like a pair of earrings or a handbag. I wouldn’t want it to be the focal point, it will be secondary to the gown,” he said.

Many mainstream brands pivoted to creating masks a year ago for everyday use, but celebrity red carpet favourite designer Grech said making them for evening wear was taking it to the next level.

“We’ve seen masks to go shopping or walk the dog and doing normal things, but we haven’t really been seeing many masks made for evening wear. This is a whole new ballgame,” he said.

Bride-to-be Connie Carusello and fiance John Barbuscio have decided to go ahead with their plans to get married next weekend, despite having to cut their guest list from 160 to 50, after already postponing their big day from last year.

“We made the tough call to go ahead. As much as we are upset and devastated we have to cut people out of our day, we want to start a family and we wanted to be married before we do that,” Ms Carusello said.

She turned to Grech just days ago to add a custom mask to her outfit for their magical day.

“I never thought I’d be accessorising my bridal outfit with a mask, but it’s a small price to pay,” she said.

Grech said mothers of the bride and bridesmaids were also requesting designer masks for upcoming weddings.

“All of them just want to match. They have spent a lot of money and time to get the look and they want to complete the look with a mask that complements it,” he said.

And just like a particular hat or pair of shoes are worn for different occasions or to convey a certain attitude, fashion experts predict face masks will become the next interchangeable accessory in our wardrobes.

Victorians will have multiple masks to choose from, depending on how they want to feel, what they want to communicate and why they are celebrating, researchers claim.

Associate dean of RMIT’s fashion and textile design, Dr Ricarda Bigolin - whose current go-to is a silk satin mask - said as fashion designers and environmentalists addressed the urgent need of finding alternative to single-use surgical masks for the general population, there was lots of scope to get creative.

“Smart masks” made with innovate material technology would take the humble mask beyond just a barrier protection, Dr Bigolin said, as well as boosting super properties that help our health and wellbeing

“In 2020, these Covid times we’ve had this phenomenon from PPE to fashion statement, adopting something utilitarian into our everyday and making it fashionable,” Dr Bigolin said.

“When we wear a mask there are parts of the face missing when we’re interacting with people. It’s forcing a different set of social interactions.

“Will there be more expression in masks of the future? Will we have much more fantastical masks, or more everyday masks and more formal masks? It makes sense to think there be masks that communicate other emotions, and other benefits for wearing them beyond the health benefits.”

The futuristic masks of the American swim team have sparked debate. Picture: David Ramos

The futurist masks of the American Olympic swim team sparked debate this week about the next iteration of face coverings.

The big white boxy masks were designed by Nike and embossed with a pleaded pattern to mimic the folds of Japanese origami.

The size and shape of the masks helped with air purification, but have been dubbed by pundits as being eerily similar to Hannibal Lecter’s cage-like covering or that worn by Batman supervillain Bane.

Dr Bigolin said this mask was the way of the future; both for its design and the way it could change the personality of the wearer.

“It’s a very strong statement. It’s very forceful. Perhaps it was about empowering the swimmers to think: “We’re tough’. We’re going to defeat people,” she said.

“We’re seeing more outrageous variations and much more experimental shapes of the mask, not just flat masks.

“Fashion always does this. It’s part of fashion to see something and think how else it could be expressed.

“Using advanced manufacturing is where it’s heading.

“I think seamless knitting techniques where you can advance what fibres go together to make things that with very different function and advanced health benefits for wearing with be next.”

Dr Bigolin is starting a new research project investigating different ways to reimage, design and produce masks for different occasions.

“If someone wants to wear a mask on their wedding day, how can we shift the way it looks?” she said.

“If masks are here to stay, we’ll probably want more opportunities to change how we express what we feel, like we do with clothing normally.

“You wear a hat sometimes to shield yourself from the sun, but sometimes you wear it for other reasons. You wear clothes for all sorts of different reasons, not just for protection, staying warm and modesty.

“From a fashion design perspective, we want to look at what is the scope for how we can design these garments.”