Gas Mask Fashion, Part 2

"QUANTUM SHOT" #378
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Also read Part 1

How much fun can you have with a gas mask on your face?
None whatsoever.

And yet multitudes of people of various age and occupation donned these rubber/plastic stifling contraptions, most as an entirely justifiable part of the Cold War civil defense exercises, but some - well, see for yourself. Could there be a type of people who would adopt "gas mask fashion" for no apparent reason? -


("The Happening")








History wears a gas mask

Weirdest faces in masks, from history's worst nightmares:








(images credit: gasmasks.net)


One of the first gas masks (Zelinsky model) from 1913:



Panzer driver protective mask, 1917:



Red Army Chemical Weapons Protective Suit, 1930:



Gas masks apparently refuse to protect capitalists:



This could easily be a shot from apocalyptic movie (the sign says "contaminated") -



The evolution of female beauty:



You don't want even to touch these rats:




Early gas masks for horses:



Update: Apparently, the picture above is not really a gas mask: it's a "nose bag," a canvas sack filled with grain that enables the horse to eat on its breaks from work while it is away from a manger or pasture (thanks, Caitlin)




Dogs did not escape this fate, either:
(See complete history of gas mask equipment for dogs here)


(image credit: gasmasks.net)


Pretending to be a mushroom does not help, but wearing this full-body suit (Red Army, 1940) certainly does:






More historic examples: vintage photography of people in masks, each impersonal face asking a silent question: "Why?", "What did I do to deserve this?" and "How long will this go on?"





(images credit: gasmasks.net)



(image credit: gasmasks.net)


















(image credit: gasmasks)








Nurses wearing masks, 1942:


(image credit: Miss Magnolia)


This mysterious banquet occurs under very portentious slogan:
"Why wait until 1955? We might not even be alive!"



Considering this poster of atomic weather and back-then political situation, they could have been right:



And looking at the next posters, I'd say these soldiers should don their masks, and quickly:



This picture supposed to show the actual nuclear detonation as part of Soviet war games in the 50s in Semipalatinsk:
(many soldiers perished as a result) -




This is THE first Soviet atomic bomb: RDS-1 from 1949:



Later model bomb (smaller and more lethal, of course):



Some of the Soviet machinery of that period looked positively weird: this one TM-59 was supposed to clean up airstrips after contamination:




These girls are not in the masks yet, but soon will be:










Closer to our times:










"Pop!" goes the pop art

Modern pop art makes a good use of gas masks, making them a symbol of... well, holistic wickedness? wicked innocence? Who knows:


(vector art by se7en)

Gas masks end up on customized bikes:


(image credit: Ben Ransom)

... in the bathroom:



... all over the street:


(image credit: Blayne Scott)


(image credit: Francisco Matas Rosas)

or at "Burning Man" avant-garde art competitions:



And we'll close with the most emphatic image of all:
(nuclear fallout shelter? I only hope this is just a piece of art)


(image credit: Tom Mortimer)

Tome Mortimer says: "Various people have asked if it's an actual child but it's just a doll that used to be my aunts (which we keep in a cupboard as it freaks people out otherwise)"

Many of the images were graciously provided by Bart from Gas Masks site, which actually has a full catalog of every gas mask model produced around the world.
Other Sources: Gas Masks in Action, Gas Masks Politics

CONTINUE TO NEXT PART! ->

READ THE FIRST PART HERE

Also read:
Thermonuclear Oops List, Biochemical Oops List, Ballistic News

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Category: History,Weird, Military
Related Posts: Cold War Phones, Russian Ballistic Missile Carriers

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