Tue 12 Apr 2005
Pale Scots fake it to carry off colour
BECAUSE of its "peely wally" nature Scottish skin has never been a natural accompaniment for brightly-coloured summer clothes - but that has changed.
Sun-seekers who feared committing a fashion faux pas by matching bold primary colours with a pale complexion have found their Holy Grail - in a bottle of fake tan.
Now bright clothes are flying off the shelves to such an extent that leading stores are having to ship up additional garish supplies from England.
Fears over ultra-violet rays from sunbeds have always worried some of those who wanted their skin to have a darker tone - but they also tended to shy away from fake tans, with their reputation for delivering a streaky orange complexion.
With the advent of better-quality fake tans in the recent past, all that has changed - and Scottish women are apparently "empowered" to don brighter gear - as a result of having a skin tone more akin to counterparts on the continent.
A spokesman for the Harvey Nichols store in Edinburgh said it had shipped up stock from Knightsbridge in London to meet demand in Edinburgh.
"Our customers are desperate for colour now since the boom of quality fake tans which have hit the market in the last few months," he said.
"In the past, fake tans could end up looking streaky and bright orange, but now that there are hi-tech products like Beyond Bronze and Fake Bake on the market, the Scots are going wild for them.
"It makes them feel empowered to wear much brighter clothes because they can have the colour of their Parisian cousins. Colour has always been important to fashion in London because of the strata of skin colour, but Scotland has just been blacks, chocolate browns and navy blues - until now."
He said that Scotland is now leading the way in fake tan sales, with Harvey Nichols’ Edinburgh store seeing a 37 per cent rise on last year: "Even the palest of Scottish girls are buying yellows, cerises and reds which we have had to order in from Knightsbridge to keep up with demand. It is great news that Scottish shoppers are now attempting the outgoing colours that are usually only associated with London."
Rest of Article :
Scotsman
