It started as a murmur at the last Fashion Week – not a bronzer in sight, instead either natural skin tomes or slightly paler, bones highlighted with judicious use of contour and luminiser. Then came Twilight, the vampire film seemingly beloved by all, and the murmur became a whisper, and now with the release of New Moon (the sequel to Twilight), and the fact that I haven’t opened my bronzer bag in six months, I think the whisper is officially a roar – pale skin is back in.
It will be interesting to see what the next round of Fashion Weeks brings up in September, but I don’t see paler skin going anywhere. When the only people wedded to their toxic tans seem to be Lindsey Lohan, Victoria Beckham and Jordan, I do think it’s time to move on and embrace the skin you’re in, one free of nasty melanomas and prematurely aged by the sun.
Being on the lighter side myself I can attest too many long Australian summers in the sun, cooking myself to my deepest color – a disappointing watery tea shade that invariably burned, and took about 150 hours of hard core sun exposure to get what I could have done in half an hour in the bathroom with a coat of Clarins fake tan. So even on holidays now I protect myself with SPF 50, and try not to worry too much about those toxic (but oh so enjoyable!) rays. Thus it’s great to see that there is a new movement afoot to embrace our natural, un-suntanned selves. Just in time for winter!
Chantecaille have introduced a new pale shade of their fabulous Future Skin foundation, which was sorely lacking from their line before, and both MAC and Illamasqua do pure white foundations for the fairest amongst you. Kay Montano uses Becca Sherbert when she is looking after the creamy complexion of regular client, Nicole Kidman, and for highlighting the alabaster-skinned I like either Becca Pearl, or Pat McGrath’s favourite, Armani Fluid Sheer in 0.
And of course for our friends whose skin is NEVER going to be a whiter shade of pale, rock the gorgeous skin tone of caramel, honey or ebony that you are, and don’t feel left out – because black is ALWAYS beautiful.
Recently I’ve had to radically downsize my kit, as you know what? My body doesn’t love me carrying my bodyweight in makeup to and from work every day.
Last week working on British Vogue I met the beautiful Senegalese model, Kinee Diouf, and she showed me her top foundation pick for black skin – 
When the weather warms up in a capital city like New York or London, there’s lots to think about – like am I going to asphyxiate under someone’s armpit on the Tube/subway during my commute to work? Have I got time to shave and fake tan my legs before I go out so people don’t think a hairy celery stick is walking down the road if I wear a skirt? Will my massive man-hole sunglasses from last year be acceptable this season, or do they make me look like a tragic Victoria Beckham wanna-be?