PURVEYORS OF PINK
The pink-is-for-girls and blue-is-for-boys debate is at the core of pink’s gendered position in the 21st century, but its history sees it as a colour belonging to an array of cultures and figureheads.
Models at the Valentino AW22 show with make-up looks created by Pat McGrath
For AW22, fashion designers embraced vivid variations of pink. GCDS peppered their collection with powder-puff and magenta while Michael Kors was infused with hot hues. A wash of watermelon infiltrated the eye make-up of Poster Girl and Emporio Armani but it was Valentino who achieved pink perfection. The brand’s Creative Director, Pier Paolo Piccioli, created his own shade of hyper bright pink in collaboration with Pantone, called Pink PP. From tights and gloves to encrusted dresses, Piccioli doused the runway in the singular shade and make-up artist Pat McGrath crafted striking eyeshadow looks.
Picciolli used the sole colour to draw attention to silhouette and detail. The brand’s national make-up artist Kolii Jancso-Todoranov says the vibrant shade “pushed boundaries in this monotone concept”. Actress Anne Hathaway gave into pink temptation at the Cannes Film Festival in a vivid Valentino jumpsuit with matching patent platforms, as did film-star Noomi Rapace in a Lavnin gown.
Pink may have a reputation as being the colour of little girls’ bedrooms, but it is one of the most politically charged colours. Spanning women, men, fine art, interior design and activism, the meaning of pink is constantly being reinvented by its those obsessed with the colour.
Mistress of Pink
Francois Boucher, Madame de Pompadour, 1759
Pastel pink was popularised during the eighteenth century when the mistress of French King Louis XV, Madame de Pompadour, became enamoured with the shade. Throughout the Western world, it became a colour both men and women could wear. Its popularity infused clothing, interior decoration and fine arts and its usage came to signify aristocratic status and elegance. Artist Francois Boucher depicted Madame de Pompadour in shell-pink gowns and rose ribbons, often with berry toned flushed cheeks and in 1757, French porcelain manufacturer Sèvres created a shade named after her called Rose Pompadour. The colour bared no gendered connotations unless used as blush by women, in which case it was “feminine”, and they were criticised for doing so. Using cosmetics was seen as a deceitful ploy used by prostitutes that interpreted “erotic awakening”, explains Valerie Steele in Pink: The History of a Punk, Pretty and Powerful Colour.
Chic Shock
Elsa Schiaparelli, evening gown, 1937
Italian couturier Elsa Schiaparelli introduced Shocking Pink when she launched her perfume in 1936, named after the intense magenta shade. The surrealist’s avant-garde designs were a perfect match for the brash hue. According to her biography, Schiaparelli discovered a vibrant button designed by Jean Clément and remarked, “I am going to take this one, and we are going to call it Shocking Pink.” Both the fragrance and bottle were shocking. The scent was heady and sultry, a combination of magnolia, patchouli, vetiver and musk and the bottle resembled the voluptuous, hourglass physique of actress Mae West (sometimes dressed by Schiaparelli). In 1938, Women’s Wear Daily wrote that there were “entire hats or hat trimmings in the daring, sometimes glaring, petunia pink shades”. Behind Schiaparelli followed an army of women who admired the shade, including former editor of Vogue, Diana Vreeland, and actress Marilyn Monroe, who wore a Shocking Pink strapless gown in the 1953 film Gentlemen Prefer Blondes.
President Pink
Mamie Geneva Doud Eisenhowe, 1959
Mamie Eisenhower, wife of Dwight D. Eisenhower, was responsible for turning the White House pink during the 1950s. After the Second World War, the colour was introduced to mark domesticity, reinforce gender roles and femininity. Mamie adapted to these roles and proclaimed that “Ike runs the country, I turn the porkchops.” Before becoming President and First Lady, Mamie and her husband moved between many military bases. She took her colour palette with her to every new home, so that their residence could be decorated in her favourite shades of green, pink and cream, including to the White House, which became known as the “Pink Palace”. Her favourite was a soft pink that complimented her piercing blue eyes and was aptly named Mamie Pink or First Lady Pink. Mamie famously wore a gown in a quartz hue, embroidered with over two thousand gemstones to her husband’s inaugural ball in 1953.
Pink Suede Shoes
Elvis Presley, 1956
Popular among 1950s youth subcultures was the combination of pink and black, influenced by African American styles and made mainstream by the King of rock ‘n’ roll, Elvis Presley. The singer introduced men to a new wave of masculinity with his wardrobe of pink shirts, suits, jumpsuits, and socks. Presley’s pink encouraged rebellion and ostentation and has influenced the dress of contemporary musicians including Bruno Mars, whose style incorporates oversized collars and bubble-gum pink suits. Presley owned multiple Cadillac’s painted in a custom pink shade named Elvis Rose, cars which he referred to in several songs including “Baby, Let’s Play House”. In his younger years, his outfits came from Lansky, a clothing shop in Memphis that stocked garish menswear, including a mohair tuxedo purchased by Presley. He was not the first man in the limelight to popularise pink and was often criticised for borrowing his personal style from Black culture, including that of Sugar Ray Robinson, a Harlem boxer whose convertible Cadillac was painted flamingo-pink in 1950.