Liverpool Fashion Week is enforcing a no-sunbed rule on its models to save the city from a tanning bed addiction.
Liverpool Fashion Week is enforcing a no-sunbed rule on its models to save the city from a tanning bed addiction.
A recent study showed that half of all girls between 15 and 17 living in Liverpool used sunbeds, a figure way higher than the national 11 per cent average, and a statistic that doesn't bode well for the future. Research shows that using a sunbed just once a month or more doubles your risk of developing malignant melanoma, the most serious form of skin cancer, and now the fastest growing cancer amongst 18 to 35 year olds in the UK.
And while the harsh facts seem to be hitting home in other areas of Britain - a study by Simply Business earlier this year revealed a steep decline in tanning salons of 29 per cent since 2012 - in Liverpool, they are not.
In response, Liverpool's City Council has launched 'The Look To Die For?' to highlight the cold, hard truth of tanning salons. The council, with the support of Cancer Research UK, is calling on the government to give every local authority in England the power to regulate sunbed business.
Showing its support is Liverpool Fashion Week. Starting on October 14, the fashion week board have decided to enforce a no sunbed rule - just as some of London's top model agencies had done for London Fashion Week back in 2012.
But they've got their work cut out for them, as 31-year-old model Victoria Jane Davies explains: "The 'Liverpool Look' is grounded in the belief that being tanned is beautiful and so there's this constant pressure to be tanned." But the face of fashion is changing in Liverpool, or at least getting paler, as only models who have never used, or pledge to not use sunbeds, can be involved in what Liverpool's fashion event next week.
"The health and wellbeing of our models is of paramount importance and we're delighted to be the first fashion week that has a complete ban on sunbed-using models. We want our models to look their absolute best, which means not putting themselves at risk of skin cancer or premature aging from the sunbeds," commented Amanda Moss, organiser of Liverpool Fashion Week.
Hoping that Liverpool's teens will turn to the bottle (of tan) instead, Moss adds: "we hope that by showing how gorgeous our models look at this year's Liverpool Fashion Week, we will help sunbed users in the city realise they don't need to get on the beds to look great. Our girls can still have that golden glow, but they'll get it from a bottle, not from the beds."
