When face masks were scandalous
These days, face masks are utilitarian, sterile, form follows function. Centuries ago, the elaborate masks opened doors for social rituals, kept upper-class Europeans away from prying eyes, and were decried by critics as sexy and scandalous.
Over the past few years, form has followed function for face masks—the stronger the better to fight a crippling pandemic. But centuries before N-95s, black velvet and more exotic materials shielded upper-class faces from prying eyes and opened the doors to baroque social rituals.
And yes, face masks had their critics, even then. Self-appointed moralists called the masks scandalous, saying wearers lived “in all kinds of voluptuousness and pleasure.” Nat Geo History looks at Europe’s mask subculture of the 1500s—and safety-minded people today might chuckle while they hook the strings of their plain white masks around their ears.
Read the full story here.
Pictured at top, masked women depicted in a pilgrimage in a 1601 painting; above, “Butterfly People,” by Indian designer Rahul Mishra, is among a virtual exhibition of more than 100 contemporary face masks from around the world, Nat Geo reports.
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LAST GLIMPSE
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