The wearing of masks is, like everything else these days, a political issue. White House staff have been wearing them, but, until a recent visit to a military hospital in Washington DC, President Donald Trump was conspicuously not. He reportedly told aides that to don one would look “weak”. In March, Mr Trump shared a tweet that appeared to mock Democratic nominee Mr Joe Biden for doing just that. Vice-president Mr Mike Pence defied masking policy at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota in April, saying that he wanted to look healthcare workers “in the eye” – one bit of their covered faces he could see if he were wearing a mask.

There has certainly been some confusion about masks. At the outset of the pandemic, many public health bodies advised against wearing them. Scientific evidence for masks was equivocal and stocks should be preserved for those in most need – which begged the question why, if they were of dubious effectiveness? The rest of us might not wear masks correctly, we were told. We might even increase our risk of infection by touching our faces or, emboldened by our own personal protective equipment, failing to socially distance.

Then there are the many kinds of masks. Bane-style N95 respirators, followed by bog-standard surgical-grade, are best, which is why they are reserved for healthcare workers and those at high risk. Last month, the hitherto mask-agnostic World Health Organization about-faced and now recommends a triple-ply construction of absorbent cotton and fluid-resistant synthetic when it’s impossible to distance. Still, the WHO warns that masks are no substitute for distancing and handwashing. It also warns against a false sense of security.

As for non-surgical masks, exactly how much protection they provide is debatable, but the consensus is some. And putting something across your face – the benefit of which has been understood since the discovery of airborne pathogens in the late 19th century – is more effective still at preventing the wearer from infecting others. Homemade cloth masks can help. Even a bandana.

The US’s pre-eminent infectious diseases expert, Dr Anthony Fauci, prominently wore a mask bearing the logo of his favourite baseball team, the Washington Nationals, to give Senate testimony. “I want… people to see that that’s the kind of thing you should be doing,” he told CNN. But despite US surgeon general Mr Jerome Adams telling Americans that masks mean more freedom to go about their daily lives, some still see them as an attack on their liberty. Most Americans – nine in 10 – are wearing masks, but a vocal minority, mostly men, are not.

A recent study of 2,459 US participants indicates that men are less inclined than women to wear a mask in public and more inclined to view them as “a sign of weakness” or “shameful”. Men are more likely than women to express negative emotions and stigma about wearing masks and to believe that they will be relatively unaffected by coronavirus. Which is, as the researchers observe, “particularly ironic” given that men are statistically more likely to die from it.

“We started from anecdotal evidence,” says Dr Valerio Capraro, senior lecturer in economics at Middlesex University. His research colleague Professor Hélène Barcelo of the Mathematical Science Research Institute in Berkeley, California, had seen a family all wearing masks apart from the father, who had his slung around his neck. Dr Capraro had seen several heterosexual couples in London where the woman was wearing a mask, but the man was not. Less than a third of adults in the UK are regularly wearing masks, perhaps not wanting to obscure our fabled stiff upper lips. Stereotypically, hardy northerners are less likely to wear them than soft southerners.

“To be honest, I was a bit hesitant to wear a mask myself, at least at the beginning,” says Dr Capraro. “It was not for any rational reason. It was rather a quick, negative emotional reaction.”

Black men in the US have good reason to be hesitant about wearing masks. Wearing a hoodie is enough for them to be suspected of being a criminal and shot dead, as Mr Trayvon Martin was in 2012. In March, two mask-wearing black men filmed themselves being trailed through a Walmart store in Wood River, Illinois, by a police officer who was gripping his gun. As Mr David Waters, MR PORTER’s resident life coach, recently reported, Stephen, an African-American client, told him: “I’d rather risk the coronavirus than be seen outside in a mask.”

Less rationally, some men apparently fear suffocation. At an anti-mask rally in Scottsdale, Arizona, in June, Republican councilman Mr Guy Phillips removed his face covering after saying, “I can’t breathe, I can’t breathe,” echoing the politically and emotionally charged last words of Mr Eric Garner, who was murdered in 2014, and other victims of police brutality, black and white. Mr Phillips has since apologised.

This toxic masculinity isn’t confined to the US. In Brazil, President Jair Bolsonaro has vetoed the distribution of masks to the poor, and laws making mask-wearing mandatory in shops, churches and schools. The former army captain boasted that, due to his “history as an athlete”, he would only feel “a little cold” if he contracted Covid-19, despite his high-risk age of 65. He tested positive for the virus on 7 July, after which reports emerged that he had teased his staff that masks were “for fairies”. He has been in quarantine since then. Brazil now has the second-highest number of cases and deaths globally.

In Dr Capraro’s native Italy, wearing masks is mandatory in shops and where distancing is impossible, as it is now in England, in line with Scotland and many other European countries. His research with Professor Barcelo shows that in parts of the US where wearing a mask is mandatory, the gender differences in doing so disappear, although men still feel negative emotions.

Masks are yet another uncomfortable aspect of the new abnormal to which we all need to adjust, an in-your-face reminder of a situation that we’d like to pretend isn’t happening. We all have to get used to wearing masks and the attendant rituals: washing our hands first, trying not to touch it while it’s on, taking it off carefully by the straps and, if it’s washable, putting it straight in the washing machine.

Dr Capraro, who has “a cool black mask”, says changing habits is “difficult”, so regulation is “crucial”. Making masks cool could help encourage more men to wear them, perhaps more effectively than regulation alone. He has observed the evolution of masks from use to ornament, surgical blue to a whole host of colours, patterns and designs. “Somehow, the mask is becoming a piece of clothing,” he says.

If the West is only just getting its head around the mask as a fashion item, Asian countries have had longer to settle in to this new look. The reasons why masks are more widely worn in Asia are many and varied: recent epidemics, air pollution, hay fever, respect for others and notably civic duty. Indeed, you’re more likely to be stigmatised for not wearing a mask. In South Korea, police recorded 840 incidences of “mask rage” – fights over not wearing them – in June, as temperatures and discomfort rose. All but one of the 43 offenders facing legal action, The Guardian reported, were men.

But, yes, masks are also worn because of style, date-masuku in Japanese (“mask chic”). Even before coronavirus, streetwear brands such as Off-White catered predominantly for Asian hypebeasts with upmarket masks. These pieces of “smog couture” have become hot resale commodities since the outbreak.

Mr Olie Arnold, MR PORTER’s Style Director, fully expects to see more masks on the streets of the UK. They were already infiltrating fashion through rap and drill artists and singer-songwriter Ms Billie Eilish, who presciently wore a Gucci number to the Grammys in January.

Masks might be relatively new, if not alien, to most of us in the West, but we should approach them like any other piece of clothing, says Mr Arnold. Start by taking into account your complexion and hair colouring. If you’re an understated guy, something more toned down might be advisable. If you’re into graphic T-shirts and OTT sneakers, then go for it.

“It all comes down to your personal taste and what sort of character you are,” says Mr Arnold. “How do you want to be perceived? You can have a lot of fun with masks.” Easy to make, hard to miss, they’re a natural vehicle for self-expression – the new baseball cap.

But can you really wear a formal business suit with a mask in the colours of your favourite baseball team, as Dr Fauci does? Or, like Mr Jamaal Bowman, the Democrat rising star and presumptive candidate for New York’s 16th congressional district, the logo of the Wu-Tang Clan? “Why not?” says Mr Arnold. “We all need to smile right now.” Even if nobody can see.