The Designer Face Masks You Need Right Now

As provinces begin to open up and we start to carefully emerge from our homes, the style-minded among us are confronted with the question of the face mask. This week, the federal government officially recommended the use of non-medical face masks for Canadians. Many stores, which are set to open across the country, will require customers to have one on. And while we’ve been watching celebrities clumsily wear them all over our Instagram feeds for weeks now, it’s about time we finally stocked up on some decent ones ourselves. After all, it seems like they’ll be part of our lives for a while. So how do we pull these things off?

Luckily, there’s no shortage of great masks to choose from right now, from the simple and sophisticated to the totally over-the-top. Masks have been the focus of the luxury world for the last few months. In fact, many of our favourite brands — including Hugo Boss, Louis Vuitton, and Prada — have been making masks to donate to the front lines throughout the crisis. But you probably won’t find any of those at a store near you. Instead, this is a great opportunity to take some sartorial gambles. Many of the best face masks currently available lean heavily into a streetwear vibe, or are being made by some of the coolest independent designers working today. And there are many great local, Canadian-made options, too. We’ve put together a list of some of our favourites.