Lana Del Rey followed in Paris Hilton‘s footsteps during a meet and greet with fans, choosing fashion over effective coronavirus protection.
The pop star made a surprise stop at Barnes & Noble at The Grove in Los Angeles on Friday to sign copies of her new poetry book Violet Bent Backwards Over the Grass and take photos with her fans. Del Rey shared multiple videos from the spontaneous public appearance to which she wore a sheer, white, lace-trimmed dress and a totally transparent fishnet face mask made out of iridescent beads, proving Born to Die wasn’t just the title of her second studio album. She live-streamed part of the book signing, introducing the team she was working with at the event, all of whom can be seen wearing fully opaque fabric face coverings.
The singer’s choice in PPE prompted an outpouring of comments from fans begging Del Rey to put on a real mask, while others wondered if it was necessary to risk drawing such a large crowd to the bookstore during a pandemic. LA County has asked that everyone wear a cloth face-covering in both private and public spaces when there are others nearby as California has been one of the states hardest-hit by the coronavirus with over 835,000 cases and 16,000 deaths. According to The Independent, however, Del Rey’s sister Caroline “Chuck” Grant replied to people critiquing the musician’s mask on social media claiming she had “tested negative” and was standing “more than six feet away,” despite selfies shared by fans to the contrary. Other supporters argued her mask had a thin, invisible plastic lining that wasn’t immediately clear in photographs, although there is little evidence to support that theory.
In any case, Del Rey is clearly an enthusiast of the bedazzled mask aesthetic as she previously wore yet another permeable style when she was photographed for Interview magazine‘s September issue. But by Sunday, it appears she had taken her fans’ concerns to heart, returning to social media to read one of her poems while wearing a solid, leopard-print fabric face mask.
A representative for Lana Del Rey did not immediately respond to request for comment.
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