Pink is popularly associated with little girls, ballerinas, Barbie dolls, and all things feminine. Yet the symbolism and significance of pink have varied greatly across time and space. The stereotype of pink-for-girls versus blue-for-boys may be ubiquitous today, but it only gained traction in the mid-twentieth century. In the eighteenth century, when Madame de Pompadour helped make pink fashionable at the French court, it was perfectly appropriate for a man to wear a pink suit, just as a woman might wear a pink dress. In cultures such as India, men never stopped wearing pink.
Yet anyone studying pink comes up against “the color’s inherent ambivalence.” One of “the most divisive of colors,” pink provokes strong feelings of both “attraction and repulsion.” “Please sisters, back away from the pink,” wrote one journalist, responding to the pink pussy hats worn at the Women’s March. Some people think pink is pretty, sweet, and romantic, while others associate it with childish frivolity or flamboyant vulgarity. In recent years, however, pink has increasingly has been interpreted as cool, androgynous, and political.
Curated by Dr. Valerie Steele, director of The Museum at FIT, Pink: The History of a Punk, Pretty, Powerful Color will explore the changing significance of the color pink over the past three centuries.
The feminization of color was a significant development in nineteenth-century western fashion. As Euro-American men increasingly wore dark, sober colors, such as black and navy blue, they left bright and pastel shades to women.
Two-piece silk taffeta, circa 1857, Museum purchase. P92.40.1
By 1910, however, bright “exotic” colors began to come into fashion, pioneered by avant-garde designers, such as Paul Poiret, who mocked the turn-of-the-century enthusiasm for pale pastel shades with names like “Nymph’s Thigh.”
Silk velvet, metallic lace, and silk crepe chiffon, 1912-1914, Museum purchase. 2016.8.1
The development of chemical dyes in the mid-nineteenth century resulted in very bright colors. As inexpensive bright pink became popular, the elite developed a taste for very pale pastels.
Young, beautiful, fertile women have often been compared to flowers, as with Wagner’s Flower Maidens. One implication is that a woman’s beauty, like that of a flower, lasts only a short time.
Silk taffeta, silk satin, and velvet, 1955, Museum purchase. P87.31.11
The dominant discourse on pink in the postwar decades emphasized its connection with an essentialist idea of femininity, where biology was destiny. Of course, pink lingerie has a much longer history.
Poirette Bra
Nylon lace and stretch satin, 1949, Gift of Bestform Inc. 2000.89.15
Christian Dior Petticoat
Nylon net, horsehair net, and silk taffeta, 1951, Gift of Despina Messinesi. 75.86.5B
In her important book, As Long As It’s Pink: The Sexual Politics of Taste, Penny Sparke describes how and why pink became so popular after World War II, when it represented “the emphasis on distinctive gendering that underpinned 1950s society.”
Silk taffeta, circa 1954, Gift of Virginia Pope. 75.149.1
Yves Saint Laurent for Christian Dior Cocktail Dress
We tend to identify pink with the 1950s (the era of “Think pink!”), but American Vogue (1963) declared the 1960s “the new pink decade.” Diana Vreeland “wasn’t afraid to dedicate 20 pages to pink,” recalled her colleague Polly Mellen. Not only would there be “pink lipstick and nail polish all over the ad pages,” soon “you were seeing pink on every street corner.”
The 1970s was not a pink decade for women’s fashion, although some designers continued to use the color. Yves Saint Laurent, for example, always loved pink, and admired Schiaparelli because “she gave pink the nerve of red. A pink that went on to devour everything in its path… Shocking pink!”
Satin, circa 1978, Gift of Mildred S. Hilson. 82.99.1
Although André Courrèges was best known for his futuristic white clothes, he often utilized pale pinks. L’Officiel de la couture advised readers to “dress in young girl pink that you love when you are 20 years old, and that you still want to wear as long as your face permits you to do so.”
Couture appliqued silk organza with paillettes, spring/summer 1967, Gift of Sylvia Slifka. 86.49.7
Pink became very fashionable again in the 1980s. Although some have interpreted the revival of pink as part of a “backlash” against women, others perceive it in terms of third generation feminism, with young women rejecting the idea that they had to look like imitation men. Certainly, a bright pink, skirted suit seems to convey the image of a powerful woman.
In retrospect, Helmut Lang was one of the most influential designers of the 1990s, with his edgy but elegant clothes. In an article for Vogue, Sarah Mower recalls how Lang’s designs were a “coded disguise” for “the cool of both sexes.” A dress like this one implicitly asked: “Who recognized the sly flashes of acid-house pink? They didn’t. We did.”
Pink polyester chiffon and white cotton jersey, spring 1999, Gift of HL – art. 2009.32.6
Karl Lagerfeld allegedly once said, “Think pink! But don’t wear it.” In reality, of course, he has often designed looks such as this pale pink suit, which updated Mademoiselle’s pink suits of the 1960s, and attracted great editorial attention in 1994.
Cotton, wool, and synthetic blend tweed suit and cotton T-shirt, spring 1994, Gift of Chanel Inc. 94.80.1
Pink has long played an important role in Japanese culture. But pink’s greatest impact on fashion came during the late twentieth century, with the rise of Japanese girl culture. This is not the pink of cherry blossoms, but rather a “cute” pink drawing on ideas of childish femininity.
Cotton and synthetic, 2009, Museum purchase. 2010.50.2
Designed by Mexico-based designer Lila Bath, this dress was originally resort wear. The maxi style featuring tucked cotton and lace was known in the USA as a Mexican wedding dress. In the United States, Mexican pink epitomizes traditional Mexico, while south of the border the color is often used to express modernity.
Cotton and lace, 1972, Gift of Tanya Melendez. 2017.54.1
“This pink dress was inspired by African scarification,” says Ghana-born designer, Mimi Plange. “We chose leather as the perfect ’skin’ to mimic the intricate patterns of scarification. Fresh scars are usually pink or red, and as time passes, they begin to fade. This light ‘fleshy’ pink was chosen to represent fresh open wounds, and the beauty they represent in traditional African scarification.”
Leather, spring 2013, Gift of Mimi Plange. 2016.49.1
In 2002, Harlem rapper, Cam’ron wore pink mink to New York Fashion Week. Although he was not the first male rapper to wear pink (Big Boi wore pink to the 2001 MTV Music Video Awards), Cam’ron is widely credited with getting men into pink. “People showed me so much love for the pink mink I wore,” said Cam’ron, “I had to go out to Pantone and create my own color, which is called Killa pink.”
Cotton blend, circa 2003, Anonymous donor. 2018.4.1
Rei Kawakubo’s famous “18th-Century Punk” collection utilized the shapes and colors of pre-Revolutionary French fashion to convey a message of transgressive female power. The wide paniers on the 1750 dress are here transposed into broad shoulders and wide, ruffled sleeves.
Pleather, faux fur, rubber, and synthetic, fall 2016, Museum purchase. 2017.52.1
Pink can be fierce and feminist, punk and powerful — as Kawakubo’s woman warrior in floral body armor demonstrates. This look comes from the Comme des Garçons “18th-Century Punk” collection.
Polyester, acetate, nylon, and cotton, fall 2016, Museum purchase. 2016.6.1
Phoebe Philo’s work for Céline has been extraordinarily popular with fashion professionals for whom it represented the intelligent woman’s style of dress. Her draped dress in “Lipstick Fluid” jersey is therefore a sign that pink has become accepted as a grown-up color.
Synthetic knit, spring 2017, Gift of Céline. 2017.19.1
Gucci’s Alessandro Michele was an early exponent of pink for both men and women. Pink is one of his favorite colors, and he has said that he enjoys finding different shades of pink in antique shops. Pink also fits the deliberate artificiality and maximalism of his aesthetic.
Silk organza, spring 2016, Gift of Gucci. 2016.93.1
Pink has long been associated with the second skin of lingerie and other types of seductive apparel. Although black is now the dominant fetish color, the fetishization of pink has not disappeared, as witnessed by the notoriety of the pink corset worn by Madonna.
By placing a pale pink sheath under black lace, Thierry Mugler reinforces pink satin’s association with the exposure of (Caucasian) skin. Compare this dress with John Galliano’s evening dress.
Satin, Chantilly lace, and velvet, 1994, Museum purchase. 2016.114.2
Before the French Revolution, aristocratic women and men wore similarly colorful and decorative fashions. Although men were, in reality, far more powerful than women, individual elite women seemed very powerful. Later generations would ensure that women were kept in a clearly subordinate position.
Patterned silk robe à la française, 1750s, Museum purchase. 2017.46.1
Although humans in every culture are biologically equipped to see pink things (such as flowers), many languages do not have a word for “pink” — or only developed one after many centuries. “Rose,” as an adjective of color, only entered the French language in the eighteenth century, about the same time “pink” was first used as a color term in English.
Metallic silk brocade, 1748-1760, Museum purchase. 2010.98.2
