From necessity to luxury: Menswear and the evolution of face coverings during COVID-19

This article examines the transformation of face coverings from essential personal protective equipment (PPE) to luxury fashion accessories during the COVID-19 pandemic, with a focus on menswear. The research centres on the Westminster Menswear Archive’s (WMA) exhibition, Undercover – From Necessity to Luxury: The Evolution of Face Coverings during COVID-19 , which documents over 100 face coverings collected between March 2020 and March 2021. This study highlights the rapid adaptation of fashion brands in response to the pandemic and their efforts to reposition face masks as desirable fashion items. The exhibition, which launched on 11 May 2021, showcased face coverings from prominent brands such as Burberry, Balenciaga and Louis Vuitton, illustrating their shift from functional PPE to high-status accessories. Additionally, it featured 365 images of discarded masks, minted as non-fungible tokens (NFTs), to challenge traditional conventional notions of value and authenticity in fashion archives. The article details the curatorial process involved in developing the exhibition, including the challenges of rapid response collecting and the influence of digital contexts on exhibition design. It discusses how the exhibition’s thematic sections – Before COVID-19 , Undercover , Protection , Digital , Charity and Discarded – addressed various aspects of face coverings’ evolution, from pre-pandemic fashion trends to their role in digital and charitable contexts. The study also critiques how the pandemic has reinforced traditional fashion hierarchies of gender and exclusivity. By capturing the rapid evolution of face coverings and their presentation in digital spaces, the exhibition critically engages with themes of value, memory and digital archiving. This innovative approach not only preserves a significant moment in fashion history but also contributes to the broader understanding of how crises influence fashion practices and archival methodologies.