Artist Peng Yangjun of duo Peng & Chen — creative editors and directors of The Outlook Magazine —investigated a recent fashion hype along Eastern China’s seaside city Qingdao. Bathing women have begun to wear protective head masks, or ‘face-kinis’ as the public dubbed these.

The colourful full-face masks protect the swimmers from the sun since the women prefer natural pale skin over bronzed skin that in many Asian countries is associated with those who work the land. The masks are also believed to help repel insects and jellyfish.