Years before Ursula Andress, the Swiss actress who was the first Bond girl, emerged from the waves in Dr. No with her caramel skin offset by a blindingly white bikini, the tan had taken hold as the abiding fashion image.
A honey-glowing face and a body that is buff and bronzed had come to conjure up associations of beauty, leisure and upper-class privilege: of exotic private beaches, robust games of tennis, long afternoons aboard a yacht and, of course, the healthy-looking afterglow of exercise or sex.
Even in the 25 years since medical groups began warning that ultraviolet irradiation can lead to skin cancer as well as to dire consequences for the appearance-conscious — wrinkles! — tan-looking skin has remained an iconic beauty image, promoted by fashion magazines, advertisements and celebrities.
But the chic method of acquiring a tan has shifted. With sunbathing and tanning beds deemed risky, some doctors, magazines and beauty companies are promoting the idea of a "sunless" tan begat by cosmetics as the safe alternative to UV irradiation.
And so simulated tanning is booming. This month, cosmetics brands are introducing new artificial bronzing agents including sprays, lotions, mousses, powders and towelettes into a market that is already brimming with products. Meanwhile, fashion magazines are enthusing over the fake tan with buzzwords like sun-kissed, radiant, natural-looking, tawny, healthy and glowing.
"We are being inundated with the look of a woman of leisure who has a beautiful glow, whether from a sunless tanner or a bronzer," said Karen Grant, the senior beauty industry analyst for the NPD Group, a market research firm. "The marketing theme is that the products can give you the same glow that the sun can provide without the risks of going out into the sun."
Indeed, the notion of a safe, healthy sunless tan is making Malibu Barbie the retro icon of the season.
But some researchers who study the skin are worried that promulgating the simulated tan as a beauty ideal is simply perpetuating an image that is fundamentally linked to risky behavior. The concern is that the fashion for a bronzed look, even a cosmetically induced one, may encourage young women to seek a tanned appearance at any cost.
According to a study published last year in the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology, for example, young women who used sunless tanners were more likely to have been sunburned and to have visited tanning parlors compared with those who were not interested in and did not use such bronzing lotions. The study, conducted at Boston University School of Medicine, also reported that, although many self-tanning products do not contain sunscreen, a number of young women believe they offer sun protection.
"We know that physicians are urging patients to use sunless tanning products instead of tanning booths," said Alan Geller, a research associate professor in dermatology at Boston University and one of the authors of the study. "But sunless tanners are not serving the purpose of a safe alternative because we found young women using them as an adjunct to sunbathing and tanning beds."
Many women say self-tanners have become as regular a part of their beauty routine as moisturizer or mascara. Most commonly, they apply powdered bronzer to their faces and tanning moisturizers to their arms and legs.
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