Restoring Faith in Humanity
The COVID-19 virus outbreak may be dismal but we have seen how it brings everyone together in this situation. We’ve curated some of the things that are restoring our faith in humanity, and hope it brings some cheer to you.
Designers come together to help frontline heroes
We are seeing designers from all over the world come down together to help with the frontline heroes battling the virus outbreak. In Indonesia, the couture house Hian Tjen worked with local textile suppliers to transform their couture studio to manufacture a crucial piece for frontliners – the medical gown.
On the other side of the world, designers such as Christian Siriano and Brandon Maxwell also used their fashion studio to produce masks and gowns for healthcare professionals in New York City (NYC). During the chaos, Brandon also brought joy to women financially impacted by the pandemic, by giving three women each a wedding gown from his own range of designs. He collaborated with other brands and celebrity stylist Micaela Erlanger to help these women complete their wedding look flawlessly.
Influencers using #socialforgoood
Influencers such as Chiara Ferragni are making use of their online presence to raise funds for the intensive care area for COVID-19 infected patients. The crowdfunding campaign collected a total amount of EUR4.3 million and is still ongoing with more than 200,000 donors from all over the world giving to a hospital in San Raffaele Hospital in Italy.
Conglomerates modify production lines to contribute
Conglomerate brands like LVMH, KERING and LOREAL are some of the big brands out there taking the initiative to help the fight against the virus. They have modified their perfumes and cosmetics factories to produce hand sanitisers that are also in scarcity.
Making reusable masks
A huge movement of people such as fashion students based in Milan, Prague and NYC (main pic) have begun to produce reusable masks. With sewing kits and cotton fabrics they have on end, they are making masks for the healthcare workers to wear on top of the medical masks for extra protection. This also enables the healthcare workers to reuse the N95 masks with the scarcity of such masks at this time.
One of the ways to respond to the scarcity of surgical masks right now, is to purchase or make our own reusable masks made from cotton fabrics with protective filters, and prioritising the surgical masks to be given to healthcare workers. A good example in Singapore, is Mrs Sheila Koo, a 68 year old semi-retired sales manager. Mrs Koo has made DIY masks with Japanese cotton to be distributed to her friends.
#Stayhome
We can each do our part to fight the virus. Every little effort and awareness can help keep infections from rising so healthcare workers can focus on helping those already in need. At Girlsourced, working remotely is something we have already been familiar with as our team and stylists are based all around the world. In addition to this, we have cancelled travel plans and stepped up efforts to keep our meetings virtual since the beginning of March.
Let us all continue to do our part at this time in the small ways we can – from staying home to social distancing to wearing reusable masks, and reserving medical supplies such as masks for frontliners.
Stay safe and this too shall pass!