A few days ago, Jennifer Aniston made waves by writing a long message on Instagram about the importance of wearing a face mask to help stop the spread of coronavirus. Since then, countless celebrities have also shown their support for this protective gesture, which is recommended by health organizations around the world.
Designer Tory Burch even created a hashtag, #WearaDamnMask, which has inspired stars to challenge each other to post photos of themselves wearing protective face coverings on social media.
But will it help?
Mask-wearing is a controversial issue for some people, and has inspired outrage and violence in countries like the US. Not wearing a mask is a statement, whether of personal freedom, or even, as one study has found, of “toughness”.
Add to this the fact that not all celebrity challenges and social media trends have been successful, well-intentioned though they might be – just think of that notorious “Imagine” celebrity sing-a-long a few months ago.
Still, encouraging others to wear face masks may work. For one thing, people love to see what their favorite celebrities are wearing. For another, most of the stars who’ve participated so far have donned creatively patterned cloth masks, sending a message that you can have fun with fashion even when staying safe and following the rules.
Stars’ mask styles so far range from tasteful plaids, to coordinated looks, to Lady Gaga’s unique hot-pink spiked face mask.
Read on to learn more about why the Wear a Damn Mask challenge may actually work (and, of course, see some photos of stars in face masks).
Aniston’s pro-mask Instagram post
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Contact Our Writer – Alysa Salzberg
