![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/blogs.sussex.ac.uk\/psychology\/files\/2020\/03\/woman-in-gray-coat-standing-on-stage-2920143.jpg?fit=550%2C825&ssl=1\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nFashion has the capacity to transform the meaning of cultural phenomena.\nFor example, in the 1990s, fashion created heroin chic,<\/a> which\nturned the cultural meanings of deadly drug use on its head. This fashion trend\nconceptualized drug use as beautiful rather than a fatal addiction. It seems\nthat designer face masks transform the cultural meanings of face masks in a\nsimilar way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Face masks, such as those used in hospitals, suggest an attempt to\nprevent disease and possibly death. Since the coronavirus outbreak, face masks\nare likely associated with the deadly outcomes<\/a> of\ncoronavirus exposure. However, by re-imagining face masks as a fashion item,\nfashion has linked the masks with key cultural values such as beauty,\naesthetics, and consumerism. People recognise these newly-ascribed cultural\nmeanings that are attached to designer face masks, as seen for example in the\nincorporation of designer face masks into streetwear<\/a> and\ntheir increased market value<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Which psychological motives could designer face masks serve?<\/strong> One possibility is that designer face masks offer people a way to\ndefy death, not in a literal sense, but a symbolic one. Objects that are\nculturally-valued, for example the national flag, can influence the way we manage the awareness that, just\nlike everyone else, we too will die<\/a>. This is because culture is\nenduring and will outlive the existence of any one of us. In other words,\nculturally-valued objects can function to affirm people\u2019s their sense of\nbelonging to a long-lasting culture, when they are made aware of their finite\nnature.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Designer face masks, then, can be seen as one way that people manage the\nexistential threat that is the coronavirus. Because fashion has now linked face\nmasks with key cultural values, designer face masks offer people one avenue for\naffirming their existence beyond the geographic spread of the coronavirus.\nFurthermore, designers\u2019 face masks are often part and parcel of futuristic,\npost-human imagery, which holds the promise of belonging to a post-coronavirus\nfuture. Thus, designer face masks may represent the possibility of\n(symbolically) transcending space and time in the face of potential coronavirus\nexposure and contagion. Simply put, designer face masks possibly offer\npeople immortality (in a symbolic sense) in the current coronavirus outbreak.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Considering these potential psychological effects, designer face masks may not be just another luxury item. Wheareas they alone may not be sufficient to prevent<\/a> coronavirus contagion, designer face masks could potentially buffer anxiety in the face of the coronavirus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n D<\/a>r Rotem Perach<\/a> is social and health psychology researcher. His areas of expertise include older persons, health behaviours, sleep, and wellbeing. He is currently a research fellow, working as part of the DETERMIND<\/a> team at the University of Sussex.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" By Rotem Perach How can we beat the coronavirus? It seems that culture is already developing its own prescriptions, specifically, against the psychological effects of the coronavirus outbreak. In recent fashion week catwalks in New York and Paris, designers re-imagined face masks as…<\/span><\/p>\n