Fashion, Face Masks, and Influenza

By Elizabeth McGovern

On January 31, 1919, in the midst of the Spanish flu epidemic, a fashion correspondent wrote to the Nyack Evening Journal about the difference in face covering fashion in America versus Paris. The women of Paris, wrote the unnamed fashion correspondent, had taken to the “cartwheel hat,” a wide-brimmed saucer shaped hat, which was not complemented well by the face mask. The women of Paris, therefore, had abandoned the influenza mask in favour of the en-trend cartwheel hat. American women, on the other hand, had reportedly embraced the influenza-inspired mask with full enthusiasm, wearing face veils in all seasons. Many of these American influenza inspired masks were particularly unusual, according to the fashion correspondent. They were made of coarse fabric and sometimes attached to a turban. In France, the masks (both for fashion and influenza prevention) were much more “seductive and coquettish” with adorned dyed lace and fastened around the back of the head.

The use of masks for disease prevention was not new during the 1918 Spanish Flu epidemic. One of the earliest examples of preventative mask wearing was by European physicians during the Bubonic Plague, who wore face masks adorned with glass covered eye sockets, leather headdresses, and pointed beaks. The 1918 Spanish flu epidemic, however, transformed mask wearing and brought the use of masks for disease prevention into common civilian use. The modern surgical mask made of gauze and cotton was manufactured and distributed on an industrial scale during the epidemic. Doctors, however, were not the only ones to embrace the mask. Sales of so-called “flu veils” soared in the U.S during the Spanish flu epidemic. These accessories were made of heavy chiffon material and often took on the color of the woman’s hat. Prior to the epidemic, face veils were all but obsolete in mainstream American fashion. Veils had become popular during the Edwardian and Victorian eras, and were often fastened to equally popular large hats. However, as hats began to shrink in size (particularly during WWI,) face veils became a fashion faux pas. During the early days of the Spanish Flu epidemic, it proved difficult to enforce mask wearing, as the masks of cotton and gauze were seen as an unflattering addition to a woman’s outfit. As a result, functional masks were produced that were stylistically reminiscent of the Victorian and Edwardian periods of fashion. Stern & Stern notably created a “Safety First Veil,” which fused fashion and function in a mesh veil with a chiffon border.

The Nyack Evening Journal’s article on face mask fashion exemplifies the close ties between fashion and politics. During the Spanish Flu epidemic in America, mask politics were divisive. Some doctors argued that the masks were extremely effective in preventing disease spread, while others reported that masks and veils were extremely dangerous to one’s health. Among civilians, some took pride in going out in public maskless as part of a sizable Libertarian resistance, while others wore the influenza mask everywhere and anywhere in the public sphere. The U.S government found mask enforcement a difficult task as they struggled to walk the line between protecting American citizens and preserving freedom of choice. While mandating Americans to do anything is a near impossible task, sometimes the most powerful force is simply what other women are wearing.

Primary Source Bibliography

• “About Our Veils. Face Coverings Abandoned By Women in Paris.” Nyack Evening Journal, 31 January 1919, page 7

Bibliography

• Booth Moore. “From WWD Archives: How the Spanish Flu Affected Fashion.” Women’s Wear Daily (2020): 11.
• Conti, Andrea Alberto. “Protective Face Masks through Centuries, from XVII Century Plague Doctors to Current Health Care Professionals Managing the COVID-19 Pandemic.” Acta bio-medica : Atenei Parmensis 91, no. 4 (2020): e2020124.
•  Nichols, Christopher McKnight, Nancy Bristow, E. Thomas Ewing, Joseph M Gabriel, Benjamin C Montoya, and Elizabeth Outka. “Reconsidering the 1918–19 Influenza Pandemic in the Age of COVID-19.” The Journal of the Gilded Age and Progressive Era 19, no. 4 (2020): 1–31.

Image Citation

• “Society Women Wearing ‘Flu’ Masks.” San Francisco Examiner, October 25 1918.