Christian Siriano, Brandon Maxwell and Prada are getting hands-on to provide medical staff with face masks and gowns during the coronavirus outbreak.
Christian Siriano, Brandon Maxwell and Prada are among the growing number of fashion brands using their sewing skills to make masks and medical gowns during the coronavirus pandemic.
New York now has more than 16,000 cases of the coronavirus, and as medical demands rise, medical supplies have declined. Hospital staff are experiencing an emergency shortage of supplies such as gowns and masks due to the overwhelming number of patients.
On Friday, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo tweeted a public call to action for “creativity” to curb the lack of necessities needed by medical staff to prevent contraction of the virus. Cuomo stated that the state of New York will pay a premium and offer funding for those who contribute.
Siriano (who has dressed Zendaya, Leslie Jones, Cynthia Erivo and Celine Dion) heeded this call to action — sewing machine and scissors in hand. “If we need masks my team can make them! I have sewers and pattern makers ready to help working from home," Siriano said Friday on Twitter. Siriano posted prototypes of the masks on Twitter that evening.
On Saturday, the Costume Designers Guild announced it had asked members to volunteer to sew protective masks for health care facilities.
The mask scarcity has summoned the skills of more top designers to lend their services. Since Siriano stepped up, so has Maxwell, who styled Lady Gaga before branching off into his own fashion label, which has recently dressed Ana de Armas, Margot Robbie and Julia Louis-Dreyfus.
"In response to this global crisis, we are now focusing our creative efforts on manufacturing PPE (personal protective equipment), starting with gowns," Maxwell wrote on Instagram. "We have spent the last week researching the appropriate medical textiles to create these gowns and are proud to provide these much needed items to the doctors and nurses on the front lines of this crisis."
Prada, too, will make 110,000 masks and 80,000 overalls by April 6 (all to be manufactured in their factory located in Montone, Italy) to give to the Tuscany area, the house announced Monday.
Michael Costello — who has styled Beyonce, Jennifer Lopez and Mariah Carey — joined this fight to lend a helping hand, too. He said he had been working for 24 hours, "glued to my machine in hopes of making prototypes of face masks." Costello explained that a contact in Los Angeles would produce surgical-grade masks that help prevent catching the coronavirus. "We will not be selling any of these but rather giving them away to all first responders, hospitals, and healthcare providers," he wrote on Instagram.
Costello challenged other designers such as L.A. designer Bryan Hearns, Michael Ngo, Ashton Michael, Viktor Luna and Geoffrey Mac to do the same. And after Atlanta Mayor Keisha Bottoms declared a state of emergency on March 15, Edmond Newton, former contestant on Project Runway (season 14) and Project Runway Allstars (season six) pitched in to make masks that are being donated to Atlanta's Grady Hospital.
Hospitals and city governments continue to ask for help, and local designers continue to step up to the challenge.
View this post on InstagramA little #muffintop for your Wednesday evening. #fitguys #guyswithtattoos
View this post on InstagramA little #muffintop for your Wednesday evening. #fitguys #guyswithtattoos
View this post on InstagramA little #muffintop for your Wednesday evening. #fitguys #guyswithtattoos
View this post on InstagramA little #muffintop for your Wednesday evening. #fitguys #guyswithtattoos
