Everywhere in the world, both big names and smaller businesses in fashion are contributing to the production of PPE, above all masks. This kind of of garments protect the body from infection, thus also safeguarding the collectivity. In this sense, the individual body and the social body are not separate entities. From the protection of a single body derives the good health of many others, as demonstrated by the social distancing measures based on different ways of clothing the body and separating space. This idea of reciprocity and interdependence places the collective dimension back at the heart of public attention. The distance between bodies, the daily adoption of uncomfortable ’prosthetics’, such as masks, the reduction of physical movement and isolation protect the collectivity, at the expense of individualism. It sounds like a paradox, but paradoxes often produce a new awareness.

Patrizia Calefato>>