Lily Allen’s orange tan is the colour du jour

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10 April 2012

When Lily Allen stepped out on the town last week with a suntan to rival the Tango man, she was vilified. But only by those who haven't been paying attention to this season's look books.

Lily must have picked up her tan during her recent yachting holiday in St Tropez with Kate Moss (who herself looked as though she had overdone the sun on her face a little). When she saw the pictures of herself in the papers, Lily admitted with an air of regret on her Twitter page: "I do look quite orange." But, she needn't feel ashamed, because as it turns out, orange is the colour du jour.

Demi Moore and Elle Macpherson have both been looking tawny on the red carpet recently, while the Teen Choice awards in California were a feast of oranges in all shades. Cameron Diaz sported coral, Britney turned up looking a dark salmon colour and Miley Cyrus wore her skin in apricot. Back home, Cheryl Cole has been joining the Orange People for her X Factor appearances.

Jordan, who has been permanently orange for years and now finds herself a fashion forerunner, has even upped her pigmentation level recently (perhaps to make sure she remains one shade ahead of the game). Even Peaches Geldof, usually decidedly pale, was looking positively, well, peachy, on a night out in London last week.

"Some people have said that pale skin is in, but that's not what we're seeing," says Alan Shea, director at fake tan brand Famous Dave's. "Our Instant Dark Tanning Mousse and our Spray Tan are our darkest products and also our best-sellers this season. We sell about 50 per cent more of them than our lighter products."

It's all Coco Chanel's fault, of course. It was she who made the tan fashionable in 1923 when she returned sunburned from her holiday in the French Riviera. The moment the burn turned brown, so did all her fashion followers. And now that the new biopic Coco Avant Chanel is screening in London cinemas, hers is the trend-setting name back on everyone's lips — and the skin colour back on everyone's bodies.

As luck would have it a recent scientific report published in the US stated that "increased sun exposure may lead to improved cancer prognosis and, possibly, give more positive than adverse health effects". Scientists also say that around 90 per cent of adults in the UK don't get enough of the cancer-combating vitamin D (provided by the sun) each day. So it's not surprising that, while all the advice says that a good vitamin D fix is achievable without even coming close to lobster-chic, we're once again equating a bit of bronze with a bill of health.

But, if you want to be truly à la mode this season, thanks to Lily and co it's not just got to be sun-kissed, it needs to be tangerine. Something akin to the tones favoured by Sixties and Seventies movie stars such as Ursula Andress, Britt Ekland or the late Farrah Fawcett. And, since along with the need for vitamin D has also come a paltry amount of London sunshine over July and August and the not-so-incredible revelations in the news that there is "no doubt" that sunbeds cause cancer, one of the only ways to go the appropriate shade of orange is to fake it.

Celebrity tanning guru David Lye has certainly noticed the growing demand for a fakey in the past few weeks. He offers a bespoke tanning service (yes, that means he will can turn you whatever shade you desire, using whichever tanning product takes your fancy) at hair and beauty salon Gielly Green in Marylebone and has been having a particularly busy season.

"August is usually a quiet month," he says "but not this year. I think because of the poor weather and the sunbed scare, everyone is coming in for a fake tan because they haven't been able to get a real one."

Even the fake ones, though, come with a health warning. "You have to be really careful," says Lye. "If you're going for a very dark shade, it's much more obvious when it starts to come off." Not to worry — just go back for a top up. You'll need to, to stay in fashion anyway, because while the future might be bright, it's definitely the present that is orange.

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