1997: Maggie Rizer started her modeling career as a beautiful redhead.

According to the fashion model index web site, Maggie's real hair color is blond.

That does appear to be the case [her eyebrows are a pale blond, not red, and I've spotted what looks like dark blond roots in some of her fashion magazine spreads], but note that she has the numerous freckles of a classic skin type I, who always burns, never tans.

And yet, she appears to have developed a dark tan in the last two years.

1999: Maggie's look began to change in 1999, when she started to revert to her natural hair color.

The hair ends still look a bit red, but the new hair growth is dark blond.

In this photo shoot, bronzer was applied liberally to her cheeks and temples.

1999: The red ends have been cut off, her dark blond hair has been highlighted, and her eyebrows have been lightly penciled in.

I'm assuming that the color you see is a sunless tanner with lots of bronzer on top. But, as this is a magazine cover, the color could be due to photo retouching or special camera filters.

Spring 2000: Blond bombshell!

The dark eyeliner is balanced by darker, stronger eyebrows, and the light, glossy lips.

Her "tan" has to be primarily from sunless tanners and bronzers: folks with Maggie's coloring just don't get that dark.

Last year [2000], there was a great deal of press on tans being "in" for the first time in ages. It was blamed, fairly or unfairly, on Brazilian supermodel Gisele Bundchen, who supposedly came back from a visit to Brazil with a deep tan.

If Ms. Rizer has been exposing her skin to the sun, it's unpleasant proof of how strongly our society pressures pale people to get tans. Not even supermodels are immune!

These two pictures, taken two or three years apart, show the increasing number of freckles on Maggie's face, supporting the rumor that she is exposing her skin to the sun.