What is "visard"

Visor \Vis"or\, n. [OE. visere, F. visi[`e]re, fr. OF. vis. See Visage, Vision.] [Written also visar, visard, vizard, and vizor.]

1. A part of a helmet, arranged so as to lift or open, and so show the face. The openings for seeing and breathing are generally in it.

2. A mask used to disfigure or disguise. ``My very visor began to assume life.''
   --Shak.

   My weaker government since, makes you pull off the visor.
   --Sir P. Sidney.

3. The fore piece of a cap, projecting over, and protecting the eyes.

n. A mask. vb. To mask.

A visard (also spelled vizard) is an oval mask of black velvet, worn by travelling women in the 16th century to protect their skin from sunburn. It was not held to the head by a fastening, but rather the wearer would clasp a bead attached to the interior of the mask between their teeth. The fashion of the period for wealthy women was to keep their skin pale, because a tan suggested that the bearer worked outside and was hence poor.

The practice did not meet universal approval, as evidenced in this excerpt from a contemporary polemic:

In Venice, the visard developed into a design without a mouth hole, the moretta, and was gripped with a button between the teeth rather than a bead. The mask's prevention of speech was deliberate, intended to heighten the mystery of a masked woman even further.