Designer offers new hues in sun-protection masks
Print Edition
WHAT do Chinese women do when they want to go swimming but maintain their pearly white complexion?
They put on a mask made for the beach, dubbed by some as a face-kini.
A pale complexion is highly prized as delicate and feminine in China.
The masks first appeared in 2004 on the beaches of Qingdao in east China’s Shandong Province in response to demands for full protection from both the sun and from jellyfish stings.
The inventor, former accountant Zhang Shifan, said she never imagined they would become so popular, with about 30,000 of them sold over the past year.
But there’s a hitch: They make people look like zombies and scare children, Zhang said.
“In the past, I really wanted to do everything I could to avoid scaring people,” she said.
Zhang said she had considered a range of different colors but they all looked scary, so she decided to borrow the colorful face-paint designs of traditional Peking Opera.
“So little children might not be so scared,” she said.
Zhang is hoping her new line will add to her business which has been so successful that counterfeits have cropped up across the country.
For 64-year-old Wang Baoyu, one of Zhang’s loyal customers, nothing beats the original.
“This store is authentic and I rode the bus for more than an hour to come here. I wouldn’t dare buy one from a street vendor as I’m afraid of buying a counterfeit,” Wang said.
The masks aren’t for everyone. Zhang Xing, a 31-year-old woman, said she would never wear one but nevertheless had praise for inventor Zhang and her new design.
“She really is someone who is full of ideas,” she said. “She’s able to make something that can both protect people’s skin and blend it with traditional Chinese culture.”
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