Visard
A visard 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.