Faking it

I can only apologise Ladies and Gentlemen (and yes, it's really good to know that some of the boys out there are following my blog - merci Messieurs) - I've been in something of a blogging hiatus for the past few weeks.  It's not that I haven't had anything to write about, on the contrary, but I've found the continuing unsettled weather has really affected my mood and my "aftermyownfashion" mojo.  Add in a birthday, a First Communion, a house full of visitors and the usual end of school year madness and I went momentarily AWOL. But guess what - the sun came out - and suddenly my world righted itself amidst the daily madness, so we're back in business - Summer business.

Photo: Pinterest

So, with the sun out, that means getting my legs out (which I had pretty much given up hope of this year to be honest) and thus we encounter the beauty ritual that dare not speak it's name - yes, it's time to talk and indeed get to grips with - fake tan.

Photo: www.sttropeztan.com

Now, I may have come to fake tan rather late, but boy is it a 21st century revelation, and with a bit of trial and error, it's a game changer. I am of Celtic origin, aka white as a sheet at all times of year, burnt to a crisp in about 5 minutes without factor 50 or above. In short, I'm never the beauty on the beach, I'm always blotchy and acutely aware that I'm frying and getting ridiculous tan burn lines. But in my head I look like this:

Photo: Pinterest

Yes, there I am - golden, glamorous and just a touch Old Hollywood meets Capri. Indeed many years ago in my former London life I was sent on a bonkers free weekend to LA and got to stay in the Hotel Bel-Air (I know, sounds like a plotline for "The Hangover Part IV"...) and my embarrassment was complete when I realised that rather than looking like the cool, bronzed, poolside beauty I imagined myself to be, I was a perfect shade of lobster red before my fellow pool companions had ordered their first Cosmopolitan - the shame lives with me still...

Photo: Hotel Bel-Air

So if you can't have the real thing (and anyway, we all know sunbathing is bad for you) it's a question of finding what works, without looking too streaky, too TOWIE*, too Jordan** or just too plain orange - no-one wants to look like they've been Tangoed***. Obviously you can go the professional spray tan route and that's a whole different ball game, but this is the DIY version.  My go to gradual, 'it won't hurt' tan is Dove's Summer Glow which goes on like a normal moisturiser, doesn't smell too biscuity and develops into a warm golden overall glow, which for pale skins like mine is often enough.

As legs can take a bit of stronger colour I build on the Dove layer with Ambre Solaire No Streaks Bronzer. This has to be worked in really well - alot of makeup artists recommend a buffing mitt, and as ever you need to be careful on elbows, knees, ankles, and hands - orange palms are such a giveaway.... With careful application, it can look pretty good.

I have also been trying Biotherm Self-tan gel for Fair Skin, which has a good smell and goes on easily and dries quickly. It is quite pale, and possibly a little yellowy in final colour for some skin tones, but again for my pale skin,  I think it looks quite realistic.

Fake tan used to be something that you either couldn't keep a secret, because it was so streaky, strong-smelling and well, orange that you gave yourself away immediately, or something that you did keep a secret because you'd been for a spray tan and passed it off as 'real' - "Oh, this old tan?  Yeah, I've just been doing a lot of gardening..."  Thankfully, Kate Moss has recently added her not inconsiderable fashion credentials to the excellent St Tropez tan range, so we can now all follow in her footsteps and openly fess up to having hit the bottle, whilst dreaming that it will in fact, make us look like this:

Photo: www.sttropeztan.com

Other ranges such as Clinique Self Sun and James Read are also to be highly recommended - I've used Clinique for my face for a few years now and James Read has an overnight Sleep Mask that has had rave reviews: you apply it as you would a night cream and wake up in the morning with a beautiful sun-kissed glow - genius and they promise that it doesn't all come off on your pillow whilst you're getting your beauty sleep. I'm definitely going to road-test this one.

So here's to faking it, loud and proud and to a great, bronzed summer, without the sunburn.  What to wear? That comes next.

Photo: harpersbazaar.com

* TOWIE - UK Reality TV show "The Only Way Is Essex" where the whole cast is perma-tanned, wait for it - orange.

** Jordan - Former glamour model - always a lurid orange.

*** Tango - British fizzy drink, very popular in the 70's and 80's - colour, you guessed it - bright orange. The accompanying TV ad had people being 'Tangoed" and turning orange - yup, someone really got paid for that bright idea....

Lilly Pulitzer - Summer in a dress

Hang on to your hats - we are being promised warmer weather this weekend - but do we really believe that? There is fresh snow on the Jura, it's pouring with rain and thoughts of Summer are starting to obsess me (anybody else getting cabin fever?) I'm dreaming of beaches, sunshine, bright colours, sand between my toes, sun dresses, kaftans, lounging by the pool - it's torture! I saw this Ralph Lauren ad in a magazine yesterday and it was almost the last straw...

There is really only one name in the fashion world who sums up Summer in a dress and that is Lilly Pulitzer, who died earlier this week age 81. A Palm Beach socialite who was married to the publishing magnate Joseph Pulitzer's grandson Peter, Lilly and her husband threw glamorous barefoot parties on their estate and became part of the gilded social circuit.

Lilly with her daughters in Palm Beach. Photo: Howell Conant

To keep busy, Lilly set up a stand selling juice from her husband's orange groves, and to avoid juice stains showing up on her clothes, she asked a local seamstress to run her up a simple shift dress made from some brightly coloured fabric remnants - and thus an empire was born.

Lilly in her shop, 1962

Lilly's dresses became a runaway hit with the Palm Beach crowd, her influence spreading across the US to the East Coast too - think Nantucket, The Hamptons, those WASP women of leisure, all tanned legs and windswept hair.  When Jackie Kennedy was photographed in a spread for Life magazine wearing a Lilly dress, they took off, to quote Lilly "like zingo" and the rest, as they say, is history.

Jackie Kennedy in Ravello, 1962. Life magazine

Jackie Kennedy wearing Lilly Pullitzer

Jackie Kennedy with JFK, John Jr and Caroline/Photo Credit: Cecil Stoughton White House Photographs

"I designed collections around whatever struck my fancy ... fruits, vegetables, politics, or peacocks! I entered in with no business sense. It was a total change of life for me, but it made people happy," Pulitzer told The Associated Press in March 2009.

Lilly photographed by Horst. P. Horst for Vogue 1975

Rockefeller, Whitney and Vanderbilt families, Palm Beach 1964. Photo: Slim Aarons/Getty Images

Durie Desloge & Wendy Vanderbilt, Palm Beach 1964. Photo: Slim Aarons/Hulton Archive/Getty Images

Vintage Lilly

"Style isn't just about what you wear, it's about how you live," Pulitzer said in 2004.  "We focus on the best, fun and happy things, and people want that. Being happy never goes out of style," she said.

Diana Ewing wearing Lilly Pullitzer printed trousers, 1972. Photo: John Shannon/Conde Nast

Whilst the brand lost its footing in the 80's, it was revived by a licensing company in 1994 and the Lilly brand is still alive and well. Naturally, Charlotte in 'Sex and the City' was a fan - it perfectly suited her preppy, clean cut look.

Photo: Ron Smits/London Ent/Splash News

When I visited the Hamptons 3 years ago, even out of season, her influence could be felt and the stores were jazzy and fun, selling that brand of beach chic we'd all like a slice of.

 

Photo: Tumblr

Palm Beach store. Photo via lillysnotebook

I'm a big fan of the shift dress, so I'm definitely going to be channeling Lilly this summer and upping my happiness levels.  As the Patron Saint of the printed dress said herself: "Life's a Party, Dress like it!"