Pink. The color that is impossible to escape during Washington DC’s spring cherry tree season. Pink has been having cultural moment for awhile, from breast cancer awareness, millennial pink and pussy hats to the more recent barbie core and frosé, to name a few.
Pink, with its feminine connotations, has a fascinating and politically charged history. However, it wasn’t until the 1940s that American companies labeled pink with the female gender. Before then, pink was considered to be masculine, particularly in Europe. Although people tend to be more opened minded now (it is, after all, just a color) with boys and men wearing pink here and there, it still resides firmly coded as feminine. Have you ever seen a boy’s bedroom painted pink?
When I was a practicing architect and worked in a large firm I had a geranium pink sweater that I loved. Granted, wearing any color in a sea of black stood out, but I could count on commentary, even from higher ups, on days that I wore it. Orange, green, yellow.. nothing… but pink… it was almost seen as offensive.
I am a big fan of pink in all of its iterations… but I gravitate more towards its pale warm side in my work, both in painting and in design. Not too sugary. I’ve yet to convince my family (all men) that we should paint our dining room Farrow and Ball Calamine, but a girl can dream.