Let’s try to look at the bright side of this pandemic, difficult as it may seem: a ton of creative projects have popped up as artists and designers stepped away from their comfort zones to adapt to situations which, some five months ago, we wouldn’t have even imagined being in.
Veronica Toppino, an Italian costume designer and milliner, focused on social distancing in her latest project, Structure Hats. Toppino created two hats whose expansive forms cover, if not all of the required 2 meter distancing, a bulk of it (45 centimetres, to be exact).
The designer sought inspiration from the role of fashion in history as a means to socially distance oneself between genders, classes and race. Just like crinolines or face veils, Structure become a ‘protective orbit’, keeping other people at an arm’s length. The first hat, designed for women, is fashioned from bent aluminium and a sheer pink fabric, its backside drooping lower than the front. The men’s version carries the similar circular voluminous form, but without the fabric. The hats would be a hit on the runway, but Toppino’s creations serve a nobler purpose: as strikingly visual reminders of keeping our distance until the pandemic subsides.
Visit her website here and on Instagram.
Images © Veronica Toppino via Dezeen