WHEN did this happen??!
It's hard walking down the Barbie isle at the toy store. There is just so much PINK! And even though I'm totally tired of pink, it is the color that sells and so I often make girl's costumes in that color.
It's hard walking down the Barbie isle at the toy store. There is just so much PINK! And even though I'm totally tired of pink, it is the color that sells and so I often make girl's costumes in that color.
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Back in the day babies were dressed gender neutral. Below is a photo of a brother and sister.
And, indeed, the 19th Century advice was very different. Read this quote from an article on the Smithsonian Magazine site.
For example, a June 1918 article from the trade publication Earnshaw's Infants' Department said, “The generally accepted rule is pink for the boys, and blue for the girls. The reason is that pink, being a more decided and stronger color, is more suitable for the boy, while blue, which is more delicate and dainty, is prettier for the girl.” Other sources said blue was flattering for blonds, pink for brunettes; or blue was for blue-eyed babies, pink for brown-eyed babies, according to Paoletti.
Paoletti is a historian at the University of Maryland and author of Pink and Blue: Telling the Girls From the Boys in America
This girls in pink/boys in blue thing didn't start until the 1940's. But then the Women's Movement in the 70's brought about the idea of gender neutral again ... for a while. Check out this Lego ad from 1981.
For example, a June 1918 article from the trade publication Earnshaw's Infants' Department said, “The generally accepted rule is pink for the boys, and blue for the girls. The reason is that pink, being a more decided and stronger color, is more suitable for the boy, while blue, which is more delicate and dainty, is prettier for the girl.” Other sources said blue was flattering for blonds, pink for brunettes; or blue was for blue-eyed babies, pink for brown-eyed babies, according to Paoletti.
Paoletti is a historian at the University of Maryland and author of Pink and Blue: Telling the Girls From the Boys in America
This girls in pink/boys in blue thing didn't start until the 1940's. But then the Women's Movement in the 70's brought about the idea of gender neutral again ... for a while. Check out this Lego ad from 1981.
A Simplicity sewing pattern from 70's, when the unisex look was all the rage. “One of the ways [feminists] thought that girls were kind of lured into subservient roles as women is through clothing,” says Paoletti. “ ‘If we dress our girls more like boys and less like frilly little girls . . . they are going to have more options and feel freer to be active.’ ” (Simplicity Creative Group)
But, we really are back in full swing "Pink is for girls" again.
I think many people are dismayed about this obsession with pink. There is currently a show called Think Pink at the Museum of Fine Art Boston. Susan Stamberg did a wonderful article about it on NPR. You can go to their website to read it and hear the podcast.
BUT, according to the video podcast "Minute Physics" Pink doesn't exist ... watch.
So we are obsessed with a nonexistent color ... Ha ha.
When will the pendulum swing the other way? I wonder?
When will the pendulum swing the other way? I wonder?
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