REPORT: Fighting corona with fashion - the Trikini, shoe masks and more!

New world problems call for new age solutions - the coronavirus pandemic being one on a worldwide scale has left over 5 million testing positive for the infection. With instructions for protection issued by world governments, medical officials and health workers, one among them being wearing a mask, has transcended into a whole new dimension of late, as fashion now has come to be a part of it as well.

Likewise, the bikini, which enjoys a massive following among both sexes for its compact design, will now have to make way for the 'trikini', which is about to be the solution for women world over to sport at beaches to beat the heat whilst protecting themselves from being affected by the novel coronavirus. Italian company Elexia Beachwear has come up with the latest addition to swimwear fashion with the trikini - a three-piece swimsuit, which has gone viral for its bikini (top and bottoms) and a matching waterproof face mask.

With mask-wearing now becoming the new norm world over due to the coronavirus pandemic, this latest addition to swimsuit fashion was first conceived as an idea during a casual conversation by the owner of Elexia Beachwear, Tiziana Scaramuzzo, who said it "was born joking with the family." The swimwear since its launch has since become a huge success and was first unveiled by Scaramuzzo, who shared pictures of her daughter, Eleanora Lupini, posing as the model for the design. The launch of the trikini had come in Italy, one of the worst-hit countries by COVID-19, days after stay-at home restrictions were being eased.

Those who are not as open to sporting the trikini among both males and females have resorted to make their face masks as vibrant, appealing and noticeable in comparison to basic plain sky blue masks that are available and visible amongst a majority of the population. Heading to Gandhinagar in Gujarat in India, we see masks with faces being designed to make them look like there's no mask being worn at all in the first place. The design in India now comes after many such innovative ideas popped up across the country, the West and the rest of the world.

Masks😷 with faces: Gandhinagar based photo studio in Gujarat is selling masks with faces printed on it so one can be identified easily.

Report: Aparna Khunt | #IndiaFightsCorona pic.twitter.com/rcEJU1C60e

— All India Radio News (@airnewsalerts) May 27, 2020

Croatian fashion designer Zoran Aragovic's colourful face masks, although said to not provide much protection against COVID-19, continues to attract a lot of buyers, considering his designs on his own brand, BiteMyStyle, have received a tremendous response. His masks, which usually are inspired from Disney characters, pop art and comic books, created quite a lot of talk and demand for them.

Among the many designers who have stepped up with their designs for fashionable face masks, artist Max Siedentop's suggestions for alternative masks have created a lot of chatter among those in the fashion industry as well as with the common man, who have been open to his unconventional designs. Max Siedentop stated that any and almost all properties such as underwear, vegetables, carrier bags and even shoes can be used to fight the coronavirus, by designing them in the form of face masks. Based out of London, Siedentopf, a German-Namibian designer, created a series of provocative images showing everyday items being used as face masks.

With the World Health Organization (WHO) stating that the world is still in the middle of the first wave of the coronavirus and a possible second wave later this year around winter time quite imminent, the creation and conception of new designs for face masks can be expected to get bigger as people will want to not only keep themselves safe with the right face mask, but also be as fashionable and presentable as they can ever be.