Welcome to the 133rd insertion of DEMUR®, an analytical series highlighting the intricacies of the artistic world and the minutiae lying within. In this episode, we look at the cultural significance behind masks in both street and runway fashion, explaining their critical role in anonymity, style and speech.
Masks as a stylistic muse have a deep-rooted history. Beginning in the limelight of theatre and costume design, our first encounter with these accessories traces back over 2,000 years, embedded in ancient Greece. Allowing actors to portray multiple characters at once, masks would double as sonic amplifiers, projecting dialogue at a greater volume inside amphitheatres. As technology progressed, we would see masks in film and photography, used for both promotional work and entertainment.
Despite such widespread notoriety, concealing headwear wouldn’t touch the runway until 1989, debuting in Martin Margiela’s eponymous Spring ‘89 show. Encasing each model’s head in a thin layer, viewers were invited to, for the first time, appreciate fashion as a standalone art form. Freeing the audience from pervasive social norms or hierarchy of any kind, “with no face, there was only the garment and the movement of the garment, and I love that” Margiela stated.
The show would ignite a fury of creative headwear, designers like Alexander McQueen, Jun Takahashi and Rei Kawakubo indulging in similar artistic feats. Exemplified in McQueen and Shaun Leane’s laborious relationship, in which the jeweller would create full upper body metallic headwear, or the designer’s masked ring of fire in the Fall of ‘98, it was clear a precedent had been set.
As we stepped into the 2000’s, masks would be seen frequently, as designers like Jun Takahshi of Undercover enlisted creatives like Katsuya Kamo. Working alongside Takahshi and Junya Watanabe to create synching, bondage-intensive masks, we would get our first taste of advantageous headwear in the Japanese market. Even Margiela reduxed their masks for Autumn ‘12 as worn by Kanye West for the 2014 Yeezus tour, and now Balenciaga has unveiled their Mercedes Face Shield.
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