Might we see the return of the Plague Doctor?
This outfit was intended to protect the wearer from the Black Death. But since nobody at the time understood just what caused the plague, the suit was worthless. But… with a little tinkering and ingenuity, it seems like it could be made functional. For starters, the leather outfit should be repalced with a modern impermeable material… kevlar coated with teflon or some elastomeric polymer, for instance. The “beak” on the original mask was filled with fragances and herbs, because they thought that the plague was spread by bad odors. But if the mask was made better, with a better seal around the face or head and with a replaceable N95-level filter cartridge int he beak, turning it into a truly functional virus-proof respirator. And the hat?
Leave the hat. Hat’s stylin’.
Another possibility, one I suggested some years ago:
There’s quite enough volume in there for a dandy respirator. It would need an elastic neck piece to seal your head in, and doubtless the design could be improved with larger eyes… but it’s hard to beat the aesthetics.
Or how about Professor Membrane:
A Howie lab coat with a large collar that serves as a partial face guard, goggles to protect the eyes, boots and gloves. Install a respirator underneath that collar and you’ll be set.
Or just this sort of thing:
A kinda-stock motorcycle helmet, but modified with built-in N95 respirators and a neck-seal. Throw in communications equipment and a heads-up display derived from the latest iteration of Google Glass, and it seems like it’d be the must-have fashion accessory of the season.