Face the Future

As with so many fashions, it began as a street movement. Hundreds of people attended an environmental protest wearing masks made of paper plates on which angry faces had been crudely drawn. People took to wearing masks which represented an ever-increasing range of emotions.

Towards the end of the craze, European fashion houses sold jewel-studded masks bearing depictions of "sophisticated" emotions drawn by famous artists - Ennui by Emin, Dawning Realisation by Grayson Perry. The inevitable post-modern backlash saw masks with "This is not a Mask" in place of features.

The fashion finally faded into obscurity but, later, Historians saw the fad as a precursor to the universal adoption of "Smart faces" - electronic skins which could be configured to display any emotion or message or image. "Real" faces were just not needed anymore.