Chinese go undercover in Darth Vader-style visors as fear of exposure to the sun sweeps country

Giant full face visors have been described as combining the benefits of wearing a hat and sunglasses at the same time

People have been spotted wearing them on bikes, scooters and even indoors while shopping - and out of the sun



People in China are taking skin-care to new extremes by wearing full-face dark visors to protect them from the sun.

Unlike sporty sun-visors designed to cast a shadow over the face, these much larger accessories cover the entire visage with dark tinted plastic.

While those wearing them can see out, those looking at them are forced to communicate with what looks like someone wearing a Darth Vader-like mask, without irony.



Fad: The benefits of protecting the skin appear to outweigh the risks of sun damage, plus crashing while cycling, for this Chinese fan of the new full face-visor

Anti-ageing? Far from simply casting a shadow over the face to protect the skin from the sun, the giant visors offer the added benefits of wearing sunglasses too

From motorcycling to department store shopping these strange faceless people form part of a growing Chinese fad for wearing the protective solar-visors in public.

The fashion fail could perhaps be justified if it was limited to the outdoors, but many women are wearing them indoors and have been spotted hiding behind the visors in shopping centres.



Rather than complimenting current fashion trends, the mask-like visors look more like a welding mask than this season's fashion-must giant sunglasses.



The fashion fail could perhaps be justified if it was limited to the outdoors, but many people are wearing them indoors, some even spotted hiding behind the visors in shopping centres

Rather than catch the catch the sun on their cheeks it appears these people would rather risk alienating total strangers with the odd-face covering

Even the danger of obscured vision or fogging up the visor while performing complex tasks like riding a motorcycle do not put off the visor-clad females from shading their entire faces.

Fashion blogger Amanda Shadforth provided her opinion of visor-wearing from her website Oracle Fox.

'I've always had an unhealthy obsession with sun visors,' she said.

'It's kind of like a hat with built in sunglasses so if you're not entirely sure if the look is for you consider it as wearing two things for the price of one.'

