At that time, it was true that I did not think much about the price or quality, I just had a simple thought that when going out to meet my business partners or friends, wearing a paper mask would make me look more fashionable than wearing blue or pink medical face masks or other normal fabric masks ...

Many customers favored transparent masks. Photo: TRAN THUY TRANG

However, face mask is no longer an item for protection, but for many people, it has become fashion accessory for casual look. On the street, many young people have combined polka dots dresses with cute hand-embroidered fabric masks, or shorts, T-shirts with fashionable transparent masks.

Medical face masks, antibacterial face masks of course can still maintain their market positions as many drugstores have claimed "out of stock" for several days, but this did not mean that the demand for other type of masks was low.

I find myself fortunate living in a city located between two cities that suffered the pandemic outbreak, as Hue has not claimed any positive cases of COVID-19. That is why we feel safe to take a long walk around the city and along the streets to see how Hue's pandemic fashion is changing.

Just a few steps out of the house, joining in the big roads, it is not difficult to see many people, especially young people freely expressing their joy, anger, love, and grief through "each layer of veil".

The most sophisticated would be handmade face masks. This type requires more work, but also easily show the character of each individual. Anyone who is meticulous can choose a light cream linen face mask with polka dots.

If you are a little more delicate, you can get a little embellished with your name, cute animal image or simply a small smiley face to know that you are still very confident and optimistic. Not to mention the dark-colored face masks, with the word "stay-home" embroidered to remind others to "stay home to be healthy, hang out quickly and then come home soon", these are for the guys / girls who are outgoing.

Handmade fabric face masks - favorite products of many young people. Photo: HA AN

Tran Thi Thanh Tam, a charming girl starting a handmade face mask business since the pandemic, shared: “I started making face masks since February 2020, that was when the COVID -19 outbreak occurred. Initially, we made those for family and friends. After sharing our products on Facebook, we have more orders from customers. Then, we found an unofficial job.”

I saw the photos first, then came in to ask about the products and talk more. The more enthusiastically Mrs. Tam shared her story about making face masks: choosing 2 types of fabrics, whether this fabric could have embroidery, the other couldn’t; that other fabric was tight, the other fabric could absorb sweat ..., the more I found myself getting confused. At that time, in my mind, it was not the fear of catching the disease, but the deep sadness about myself.

Actually, I want to make a mask for myself to save from 9,000 VND to 28,000 VND, but unfortunately my workmanship was only at the point of making the button, that was when I had to accept to be a friendly customer. Not like her, she can take advantage of her deftness to do another job.

That is just the handmade mask. Out on the street, there must be three, seven, twenty-one different self-protection styles. Japanese paper masks are probably the most common, because they look "cleanly and swanky_ you see" - my friend honestly commented, looking at the cafe full of people sharing the same style.

I also looked around, then looked at the backup paper mask I kept in my purse and nodded immediately. This type of mask must be expensive, as much as 10,000 VND per single use. The strap fits perfectly, looks fashionable from far away, making it extremely popular among young people.

Dieu Linh, a "connoisseur of masks", affirmed: "Talking about the quality, Japanese paper masks must be ranked expensive, because they are single use disposable face masks. Japanese masks are often found in shops selling imported goods, priced from 300,000 VND to 400,000 VND depending on the sellers, which is much different from medical masks. The material is paper, so it is beautiful to carry it once, and safe, too.”

In response to the need to show the personalities of customers, the market also offered fabric face masks in blue, red, purple, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and purple with prices ranging from 7,000 to 10,000 VND per reusable one. Most recently imported, there are transparent face mask named XC99 generation - the type of which the seller called "more than a mask" with 2-way breathing valve lock, made from TPU plastic, 100% droplet prevention.

Not following style, in fact, I still have not owned a "half-closed, half-opened" face mask like this before. But looking at the long lines of comments for orders on the internet, plus the feedback posts shared that those were convenient, economical, trendy, with Face ID available on mobile phones, I understand that everything could be on the market; as young people do not hesitate to own unique stuff, it is difficult to ignore these new products, although the price of transparent masks falls between 150,000 VND - 170,000 VND per item depending on colors and types.

These days, going on the street, I have so many things to think about. Questions like “is it necessary to go out? Where to go? What to wear?” which have taken me so much time before, now others are also added, such as the questions about suitable face masks ..., all made my head confused.

There will be a working appointment tomorrow, what would be suitable and safe to wear? I don't know, the fabric, paper, and plastic face masks have all been used by others. Then, looking on the bright side: "If I were a billionaire, I would definitely risk 35 billion VND for a diamond face mask from a popular Israeli designer on the Internel. At that time, who could emulate mine...! "

By HA AN