The Japanese celebrities who made coronavirus face masks fashionable

Stars of film, sport, fashion and comedy claim gongs in Japan’s Best Masknist Awards

Model Yuki Kimura, footballer Karina Maruyama and actress Mayuko Kawakita are among those who have made masks hip

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Japanese actress Mayuko Kawakita picks up a Best Masknist Award. Photo: Handout

Published: 6:27pm, 13 Nov 2020Updated: 6:32pm, 13 Nov 2020

Japanese celebrities have accepted golden statues in the nation’s first awards ceremony to celebrate face mask fashion.

The Best Masknist Awards 2020 were organised by Tokyo-based Sanwa Co., which manufactures the Serao brand of face masks. The company hopes the event will encourage people to see masks not solely as a method of preventing the coronavirus from spreading but also as a way for people to express themselves and show off their individuality.

Japanese model Yuki Kimura, also known as Yukipoyo, has done the most to make masks hip. Photo: Handout

The trophy – in the shape of a golden mask, appropriately – for the model or social influencer who has done the most to make masks hip went to Yuki Kimura, a model who is also known as Yukipoyo.

Accepting the trophy, Kimura wore a black-edged mask with a leopard-skin print and told the onlookers she was “honoured” for being recognised.

Footballer-turned-television personality Karina Maruyama. Photo: Handout