I just presumed its on the status.
In the years gone by when people in the UK if rich would want to show they did not have to work so would be pale ie didn't work in the fields as a labourer and would go to powder them selves so they were as pale as possible.
More recently a tan showed you were not chained to the office desk or stuck behind the till, and could go out in the sun shine or afford plenty of holidays abroad.
In phill, india etc it still appears to be the other way round.
