Just a tiny observation:
Nowadays everybody is suffering for a bronzed appearance. With very few exceptions, a suntan is obligatory when one is trying to look good.
However, back in the days noble paleness used to be hip. Why so? Because it demonstrated that one doesn't have to work, and thus indicated richness.
The funny part: That's at least partially what the suntan craze is all about.
And it results from a change in the way of working: Back in the days people used to work on the fields/directly under the sun, and paleness showed the absence of the need to work. Then labor shifted and today most people sit in offices all day long. Thus, pallor is the color of the employee, while the free time adventurer, who has enough money to can live his life without the constraint of labor, is bronzed.
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Addendum: I just noticed that in wikipedia's entry on suntan the same observation has been made. Although now I cannot claim to be the originator of this observation it certainly underlines its validity.
For further reading: The history of suntanning (and skincancer)
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