“While our summer beauty routines are devoted to bronzing, self-tanning, and tan-extending, in Asia, beauty-seekers are more likely to center theirs around lightening and brightening…

The facekini’s sudden rise to fame has been greeted with amusement by young social media users in China, who typically associate the practical product with “old women” and the traditional view that pale skin is ‘more beautiful’. In fact, the opposite is increasingly true, with tanning salons popping up all over China’s cities and fashion magazines often choosing bronzed models who are perceived to have travelled the world.

On Weibo, the Chinese version of Twitter, people joked that “Chinese old women are at the centre of the global fashion world” and that “it looks like bank robbers are raiding the beach.”