Shades of ‘nude’ for you too
There’s a “nude” revolution going on. The colors “nude” and “f lesh” used to be synonymous with lighter skin shades. But as the world’s population gets more diverse, those definitions continue to change, especially because of the strong consumer demand for fashion and beauty products for darker skin colors.
During the last decade, fashion and beauty brands have responded to this audience, going beyond pale pinks and beiges to include products in a rich palette of browns and other skin tones — like the colors of people seen in a diverse city like Los Angeles.
Footwear designer Christian Louboutin debuted the Nude Collection of flats and heels, ranging from pale to deep, in 2013.
“The Nude Collection is dedicated to people who want to have great legs, to have a great silhouette,” said Louboutin via email. As style rules go, nude-colored shoes tend to make a person’s legs appear longer.
Louboutin is part of the growing trend as brands offer more collections and products designed for consumers of color. Label Nude Barre sells women’s undergarments and hosiery for a range of skin tones, and Nubian Skin offers nude hosiery and lingerie for women of color.
“Jane the Virgin” star Gina Rodriguez and business partner Catalina Girald co-founded Naja lingerie, featuring a Nude For All collection starting in 2016. And earlier this year, underwear brand Björn Borg introduced a line of nude undergarments in six skin tones for women and men.
“There isn’t just one ‘nude’ anymore,” says Shannon Romanowski, a category manager for research firm Mintel, which has headquarters in Chicago and London. “Brands are recognizing that women [and men] come in all shades, and there’s been a huge expansion in tones and foundations.”
The largest color expansion for skin tones has been in the beauty segment. Mass-market and prestige makeup brands such as L’Oreal Paris and Lancôme have more offerings for a range of skin tones.
They join new and legacy beauty lines dedicated to women with deeper and multiethnic complexions, including Iman Cosmetics, black|Up Cosmetics, Fashion Fair and Mixed Chicks, which sells makeup and hair-care products.
Last year, actress Eva Mendes introduced Circa Beauty makeup because she found it difficult to find a foundation color to match her skin, particularly during the early days of her career.
“I’m Cuban American,” Mendes says. “And under the Latin umbrella, a lot of people don’t realize the diversity among us.” She says it was important for her to be able to have beauty products to serve this diverse community.
Romanowski cites Lancôme’s line of foundations including foundation sticks, creams and liquids such as the brand’s Nude Miracle Weightless Foundation and L’Oréal Paris True Match makeup as standouts from larger brands for their color range and the brands themselves for using diverse spokesmodels in their marketing campaigns.
Cosmetic chemist Balanda Atis, manager of L’Oréal’s Women of Color Lab, also has been examining color and the expanding beauty landscape.
“As a woman of color myself — and speaking for friends and family ... for many years we were challenged with finding the right foundation shade,” says Atis, who has collected skin-tone data from more than 57 countries of origin. L’Oréal’s products are available in more than 140 countries.
“Almost everyone has their own unique skin-tone [identification],” says Atis, mentioning an October 2013 National Geographic article about the growing U.S. multiethnic demographics and what Americans will look like in 2050.
“Every day new skin tones are born,” she says.