History Main / TanLines

* Detective shows like ''Series/{{Sherlock}}'' will often use tan lines as clues. For instance, in the ''Sherlock'' serial "[[Recap/SherlockS01E03TheGreatGame The Great Game,]]" Sherlock deduces that a rental car agency owner is lying about not having been to Colombia recently because of his tan.

* ''Manga/TimeStopBrave'': Kuzuno Sekai likes to [[TimeFreezeTrollingSpree freeze time and strip women naked]]. When he does this at the tropical island [=OffshoreRope=], he is pleased to find tan lines under the women's swimsuits, saying it is really attractive.

* Owen from ''WesternAnimation/TotalDrama'' has tanned arms, legs and face, but has pale upper arms and stomach. Harold and Ezekiel have much of the same, except their legs are pale.

* Owen and Harold from ''WesternAnimation/TotalDrama'' have tanned arms, legs and face, but has pale upper arms and stomach. Ezekiel has much of the same, except his legs are pale.

* Movie critics and commentators will often point out the common mistake of actors and actresses forgetting to get rid of their tan lines before appearing in a role where these would be improbable, like bikini tan lines on a character from Ancient Greece or Rome.
** Although the Greeks and Romans did have a bikini-like set of garments that appear in surviving frescoes and wall paintings. It took the form of what might be called a bandeau top with a minimal modesty-covering loincloth.
** This can be seen midway through ''Film/GangsOfNewYork''. When Bill the Butcher is seen lying with a nearly naked prostitute, the character has a thong-underwear tan line in a story set in the 1860s. Thong underwear didn't become available until the 1980s.[[note]]Although there is a thong-like French garment called ''le cache-sexe'' which has certainly been around for a lot longer than the 1980's: literary references go back to the 1930's at least. Whether it was part of "French Fashion" used in American whorehouses in the 1860's would be for a clothing historian to advise on![[/note]]
** Also seen in the 1983 film The Wicked Lady, which is set in medieval England; one scene shows a young woman with 'French bikini' tan lines.

** Also referenced across the article with the phrase "farmer's tan," where only the face and arms are tanned but a lot of the torso is pale.

A character who constantly sports tanlines is usually used for comic relief, like a country bumpkin or HawaiianShirtedTourist; generally, it indicates that the character doesn't care much about their physical appearance, as they haven't bothered to tan away the pale parts that weren't exposed to the sun. For some, however, tan lines have an erotic edge to them. This might be due to indicating that a character is wearing a more revealing outfit than they normally would -- something especially common with swimsuit tans. It's uncommon, but not rare, for tan lines to be used as a form of {{fanservice}}, and Japanese media in particular seems to be fond of using them this way.