Models strutted the ramp with adhesive
glittering rhinestones stuck around their mouths arranged in the shape of
surgical face masks as the coronavirus pandemic took centre stage at a fashion
week in Cape Town.
Veteran South African designer Gavin Rajah on Thursday night used the stage
at the African International Fashion Week in Cape Town, to highlight to the
division and potential racism that protective surgical masks may spur.
Models also donned plastic sheets covering their heads and face, mimicking
the protective hazmat suits usually worn by medics working in infectious
diseases hospitals.
“The use of the mask is very kind of symbolic because the mask isn’t really
about necessarily protecting you, but what it’s going to do is alienate you
from the rest of the people around you,” Rajah told AFP.
“It’s going to set you apart. It’s a new form of racism”.
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Since the deadly outbreak of the virus – known officially as COVID-19 —
originated in China in December, Asian communities around the world have been
subjected to suspicion and fear.
“We’re trying to create a form of expression and turn something which is
negative into a form of something which is beautiful,” said Rajah.
In the world’s fashion hub of Italy, which is one of the hardest hit
countries, Chinese tourists have reportedly been spat at in Venice and mothers
in Milan have used social media to call for children to be kept away from
Chinese classmates.
In Malaysia, a petition to “bar Chinese people from entering our beloved
country” received almost 500,000 signatures in one week.
Rajah, who is celebrating 20 years in the fashion industry said he didn’t
want to leave a legacy only of only pretty dresses.
“We want to acknowledge the humanity in the people next to us and around
us. And we want to champion those rights,” he said.
South Africa has registered 16 cases of the virus which has killed nearly
5,000 and infected more than 130,000 people as the virus sweep across the
world.(AFP)