

The 77th annual Venice Film Festival kicked off this week, in person, regardless of how anxious the idea of entering a cinema or standing around a bunch of beautiful, rich, and famous unmasked people might make the average person. (Or is that just me?) When images from the red carpet began to emerge, I was hopeful the majority of attendees would opt to be photographed in masks—ideally incorporating an ornamental mask into their undoubtedly extravagant looks. Alas, very few were brave enough to even allude to mask-wearing. That is, very few including Tilda Swinton, whose golden stingray-shaped face mask wand was gorgeous and also completely unprotective and ultimately absurd.