Pale or Fake Baked?

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One of the Elizabethan Ideals that we have shied away from is how we view pale skin. In the Elizabethan times, pale skin was proudly worn by the nobles and royalty because tanned skin that may have had freckles on it were marks of the poor and those who worked in the sun.

As I've mentioned in previous posts, the extremes many women went to to achieve white skin was unhealthy. Concoctions that were mixed up were based with poison and surely it must of become visible that they were bad for the skin? But nonetheless they kept on applying these pastes to achieve the pale status.
THE SIEVE PORTRAIT

Throughout the 2000s, fake tan has become the 'in' thing. I've seen boards in Essex that advertise the shade 'terracotta' So where did this fixation of not being pale come from?

 "No celebrity would dream of gracing the red carpet without one and the vast range of products to turn us every shade of the colour-chart from gentle gold to deep teak means that self-tan is a staple part of not just our beauty regimes but of the economy." (Hart-Davis and Debenhams 2013)

Ah ha. Our new 'Royals' we look to as our forefathers once looked to Elizabeth I, are setting the trends. It was in the 1920s that tanned skin became associated with luxury.  

 How much do actually pay attention to this? £100 million. That's how much this article is a few years old, and I'm scared to think of what it would be now. Let's let these figures speak for themselves:
According to a lively radio programme Tanning Tales, going out on Radio 4 tomorrow, the self-tan business now has a retail value of more than £100million in the UK. It is one of the fastest-growing sectors of the cosmetics industry, which itself is thriving in a positively unseemly way compared to the rest of the economy. “The beauty and cosmetics industry as a whole brings £17billion to the UK economy,” says Caroline Neville, president of its trade body, Cosmetic Executive Women. “It has held up well during the recession because the last things women want to give up are their small treats. Beauty is about confidence and these products help to give women that confidence.” (Hart-Davis and Debenhams 2013)
So due to celebrities we worship, we copy them and we've made a huge increase on how much we put into this newly found niche within the beauty industry. 
If you google 'fake tan gone wrong' You get some comical results. When it first became acceptable to have a really heavy fake tan, you can see that the results aren't the greatest:




It just makes me sad that it's acceptable for people to say:

The CEO of St Tropez is Michelle Feeney. “A tan makes you walk a little taller and although you can’t say, legally, that self tan makes you look thinner, white cellulite certainly looks worse than brown cellulite,” she says. (Hart-Davis and Debenhams 2013)
"Today all those worries have been banished by the miracle of fake tan, says beauty salon owner James Read. "When I apply my tan I feel and look healthy. If I haven't done it I feel I can't go out." (de Castella 2011)
 
What I find fascinating is how fickle society is. Elizabethans saw a tan as lower class attribute, whereas now:Nowadays the tan is "no longer a class definer", York argues. It takes in both footballers' wives and the well-to-do. Sporting a tan is now part of a move towards showing off more skin and making a statement, he believes. (de Castella 2011)

Personally, I am pale and freckled. I don't tan and I don't use fake tan, I don't feel the need too. I don't look down on or judge anyone who choses to wear tan. I do however have a problem with young dancers (children) who compete and are fake tanned to the high heavens. I think surely now in a time were we are more accepting to new ideas of normal, that we could just accept that beauty can be found with along all skin tones.

Maybe one day, but for now there's a rise of mitt using fakebakers.



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