<P> Tanning has gone in and out of fashion . In the United States and Western Europe before about the 1920s, tanned skin was associated with the lower classes, because they worked outdoors and were exposed to the sun . Women went to great lengths to preserve pallid skin, as a sign of their "refinement". </P> <P> Women's outdoor clothing styles were tailored to protect against sun exposure, with full - length sleeves, and sunbonnets and other large hats, headscarves, and parasols shielding the head . Women even went as far as to put lead - based cosmetics on their skin to artificially whiten their skin tone . However, when not strictly monitored, these cosmetics caused lead poisoning . Light - skinned appearance was achieved in other ways, including the use of arsenic to whiten skin, and lightening powders . The preference for fair skin continued until the end of the Victorian era . </P> <P> By the early 20th century, the therapeutic benefits of sunlight began to be recognised . In 1903, Niels Finsen was awarded the Nobel Prize in Medicine for his "Finsen Light Therapy". The therapy was a cure for diseases such as lupus vulgaris and rickets . Vitamin D deficiency was found to be a cause of rickets, and exposure to the sun would allow vitamin D to be produced in a person . Therefore, sun exposure was a remedy to curing several diseases, especially rickets . In 1910 a scientific expedition went to the island of Tenerife to test the wider health benefits of "heliotherapy", and by 1913 "sunbathing" was referred to as a desirable activity for the leisured class . </P> <P> Shortly thereafter, in the 1920s, fashion - designer Coco Chanel accidentally got sunburnt while visiting the French Riviera . When she arrived home, she arrived with a sun tan and her fans apparently liked the look and started to adopt darker skin tones themselves . Tanned skin became a trend partly because of Coco's status and the longing for her lifestyle by other members of society . In addition, Parisians fell in love with Josephine Baker, a "caramel - skinned" singer in Paris, and idolised her dark skin . These two women were leading figures of the transformation that tanned skin underwent, in which it became perceived as fashionable, healthy, and luxurious . Jean Patou capitalised on the new tanning fad, launching the first sun tan oil "Huile de Chaldee" in 1927 . </P>

What is the meaning of tanning on skin
find me the text answering this question