A SMILE HIDDEN BEHIND QUARANTINE

"I wanted to cover up quarantine"

this is how Elena describes her project of sewing and gifting colourful face masks to family and friends.

Behind the sharp sound of the sewing machine and the quick and slender fingers, sits Elena.

She's a 25 year-old girl from Northern Italy, who has been working in Milan for 5 years to follow her dream: fashion.

After graduating at the Politecnico University in Design for the Fashion System, she started working in a small ready-to-wear female brand.

Working as an assistant production manager is a real privilege for Elena, as she can learn, travel and meet new people everyday.

But on March 10th everything changed.

The national lockdown meant that the firm she was working for had to close too, and Elena, like other 554.754 Italian workers was forced to stay at home.

Despite trying to smart work, there was simply no work to do...

And on April 1st her internship was stopped.

Elena came back to her family home and spent quarantine there.

She feels very grateful for her health, family and home, but lockdown wasn't easy at all.

" I was going crazy,"

says Elena reminiscing about how hard she tried to keep herself busy during those long days, filled with boredom and job uncertainty.

But Elena did not sit back and wait for quarantine to finish.

She thought that having a lot of fabric and time at her disposal, she could transform that dark time into a rebirth.

A colourful rebirth.

Elena says she couldn't stand the idea of wearing those white surgical masks.

"I was feeling anxious at the idea of having to wear an aseptic and white face mask in the following months, it would have really made me depressed,"

she explains shaking her head.

So, she decided to "cover quarantine" with flowers, colours and fantasy.

At the beginning she only sewed masks for her family and friends, but in just a couple of days many people started to ask her to send them her face masks.

And as of today, she has sewed and gifted more than 100 masks.

And the orders keep coming in!

Having seen the success of the project, the temptation to start selling the masks was very strong, especially for a young girl who had just started to take her first steps into her career.

“Initially, I admit it, I wanted to sell them, because I couldn’t stand the idea of staying at home, not working and not having any money,”

reveals Elena with a smile.

However, she didn’t want to profit from this tragic situation and, as she always specifies, her masks aren’t a medical device, but rather a chance to rediscover creativity and style.

Yes, style! Because Elena wants her masks to be an everyday accessory that could really fit with both our outfits and personalities.

When Elena is sewing a mask for someone she doesn’t know, she tries to get a grasp of their personality, in order to create something unique.

“I used to scroll on their Instagram account and really try to guess what they might like. This was definitely the most creative and funny part!”

Creating these masks is a great opportunity for Elena, but it’s also an opportunity for those who receive the gift.

Elena herself said she could see how hard it was for people to ask her something for free.

But she did ask for something in return…

A social favour.

To post a picture of themselves with the mask on and share the project with the hashtag #thehiddensmile .

Elena says the solidarity chain that she built online is the thing she’s most proud of.

Their hidden smile.