Wednesday, April 24Royal Holloway's offical student publication, est. 1986

Freckle Frenzy

And just like that, freckles are back. The quiet advocates of natural beauty have slowly but surely infiltrated the minds and visions of the world’s trendsetters. Suddenly our perceptions have been reversed back to where they should be. Freckles are cool and they are here to stay. The utterly outrageous idea that freckles were somehow, ugly, unnecessary, dark, disgusting, like blotches of diseased skin eagerly waiting to be caked in foundation and concealer, has disproportionately plagued our collective consciousness for too long. The media frenzy of ‘clear skin equals good skin’ is slowly but surely washing away. Why though are those unequal sprinkles of concentrated melanin suddenly so desirable? Childhood memories of PippiLongstocking and Howdy Doody will set off an innate sense of frecklephobia. The feeling of being the slightly awkward, quirky, spotty, different one is all too familiar. Additionally,those of us who religiously follow seasonal trends know all too well that today’s ‘cool’ may become tomorrow’s ‘ugly’. Freckles however, could stand the test of time. As a spring/summer trend it dreamily lifts us from winter’s copious gloom, feeding our cheerless minds with a fresh and innocent beauty only freckles can provide. Somehow freckles re-stress the importance of natural beauty, something we all lose sight of once in a while. Freckles as a natural beauty trend will change our perceptions and begin the revolution of loving ourselves the way we are. Part and parcel of the evergreen girl next door look, freckles have always been beautiful and appealing. The illusion that they were a blemish, just needed sweeping. Who best to sweep it than those at the forefront of ‘cool’? Designers such as Holly Fulton, Sass&Bide and Kinder Aggugini are making a statement. Not only are they exposing their models freckles, they are actually drawing them onto those devoid of any. Not to mention the illustrious list of charmingly dotted ‘it girls’ which includes Sienna Miller, Emma Stone, Gemma Arterton and Bar Refaeli. Of course there is nothing girl next door about them, they are downright sexy. Freckles have now transgressed the boundaries of casual acceptance into the realm of must need accessories, a factor which may highlight our obsession with changing the way we look. Now that freckles are in, we must draw them on. There perhaps, lies the drawback in calling it a beauty trend. Freckles being in, should not give us un-freckled women an immediate license to ‘fake it’. What the trend does do however, is highlight their merit as an enhancing feature. The ingenious world of fashion has swiftly accepted those wonderful spots on our faces. Perhaps the pale, even and unattainably smooth visage of today’s models may no longer be a necessity. Those brilliant trend setters on the pedestals of chic have embraced our fabulously freckled faces. It’s time for us to do the same.