Fashion Victim : Anyone else browned off by fake tan?

Jul 24 2008 by Emma Johnson, Liverpool Daily Post

WHEN you are stuck in a school uniform eight hours a day, five days a week, it is only natural for young girls to find ways to make the most of their looks.

In my day, it was hairstyles, jewellery, skirt lengths (as short or as long as possible seemed to be the rule of thumb), bags, shoes and make-up which we used to make ourselves more attractive.

Most, if not all of these things, provoked the ire of teachers. Only a couple of weeks ago, I told in this very column how I was once reprimanded at school for having a skirt that was too long.

But now teachers have found a whole new sartorial crime to punish pupils for – orangeness.

It transpires that the head teacher at a school in Lancashire has taken against fake tan.

In that time-honoured tradition, pupils were given letters to take home to their parents in which head teacher Carol Robinson wrote: "The current trend for fake/spray tans does little to enhance the appearance of our young ladies.

"We ask for your support in ensuring girls do not come to school looking varying shades of orange."

Hilarious isn’t it. “Varying shades of orange” – what a fantastic phrase.

Mrs Robinson’s argument is that the school wants to promote natural beauty and teach the young ladies to be content with their own looks. It is an honourable intention, but, in a world where we are judged primarily on looks, I fear it may fall on deaf (and probably pierced) ears.

I do agree with Mrs Robinson, though, living as I do on Planet Orange, I know how hideous it can be to see acres of streaky Ronsealed flesh poking out of hot-pants and mini-skirts.

But there is no getting away from the fact that these days it is far more fashionable to be tanned than it is to be pale and interesting, and no-one cares more about fashion, and more crucially about fitting in, than teenage girls.

I am 30 and far from immune to the pressure to be brown. I am olive-skinned and used to love a good old sunbed session until I saw the damage I was doing to my face, but I still opt for the occasional fake tanning session to get that Gisele glow.

Of course, the worst possible consequence of this school rule, as some dermatologists have warned, would be that the girls ditch the bottle for the bed and start sunbathing more or going on sunbeds to achieve the colour they crave.

In fairness, I think Mrs Robinson’s plea was really more to do with parents ensuring their daughters’ look respectable for school than anything else.

But I still can’t help wondering how exactly you would police a fake tan ban?

In order to ensure our skirts were not too short, teachers at my school would make us kneel up on the floor; if your skirt went under your knees, it was appropriate length.

Perhaps teachers could check girls’ skintones at assembly with an orangeness chart. I can see it now – Nicola Roberts at one end and Jodie Marsh at the other.