The images are part of a new project called Mask Fashion Week, which drew its inspiration from members of a Facebook group known as Mask Your Fashion.  

Unlike a traditional fashion week, this project is open to everyone: the city streets have become a runway. While still adhering to safety recommendations, audiences are invited to travel the Mask Fashion Week route through the city by foot or in their cars and reflect on the role and look of the new accessory that has unexpectedly become part of our day-to-day lives. The city’s outdoor advertising stands now feature photos of masked project participants with a slogan that reads, ‘Creativity Cannot be Masked’.

Lithuanian designer Julia Janus, one of the organisers of Mask Fashion Week in Vilnius, says that new times call for new measures and new outlets for expression. “While quarantine brings isolation, which often exhausts people, creativity can be a balancing force that allows people to focus on something positive while bringing creative people closer through new bonds. We hope this project inspires even more people to be positive and creative,” says Janus, who puts a lot of emphasis on sustainability in her own designs.

When the Government of Lithuania announced that protective face masks would become a mandatory accessory in public during the pandemic, local designers and other creative people mobilised and started making all kinds of masks. For many, this process has served as an inspiration to experiment and have fun with different mask designs.