When did pink become feminine? Nowadays, we take it for granted that it is a girly color, but it was not always so. As seen below, the widespread cultural norm that associates the color pink with femininity is actually a relatively recent fashion development.
Pink Did Not Become Girly Until After World War II
The color division of blue for boys and pink for girls is, historically speaking, a relatively recent phenomenon. Indeed, there was a time not too long ago when blue was associated with femininity. For example, as recently as 1918, a popular American catalog recommended that little girls wear blue, because that color was considered dainty and delicate. Nearly a decade later, in 1927, Time magazine conducted a survey of major department stores to find out which colors were commonly associated with girls in their clothing lines.
When the results came back, they were mixed. What stands out though for purposes of the cultural connotations of the color at the time is that in 1927, Time’s survey did not show that it stood out in any particular way as a fashion choice for girls. Indeed, well into the Roaring Twenties, pink was worn by both men and women. It was not until after World War II that it developed the symbolic association with girls that we have today. Indeed, Baby Boomers were the first generation to be dressed in today’s sex-specific colors.
First Lady Mamie Eisenhower Made Pink Feminine
It was not until the 1950s that pink became established as a feminine color. The biggest single driver behind that fashion shift was First Lady Mamie Eisenhower. At her husband’s 1953 presidential inauguration, the new First Lady came out in an enormous rhinestone-studded pink ball gown that won great admiration. Mamie Eisenhower loved the color, and the country loved Mamie. She wore the color so often that a casual search of Mrs. Eisenhower’s newspaper coverage frequently finds references to the color either in the headline or the article.
And it was not just pink, but “Mamie Pink”. It did not take long before the notion spread that the color is what ladylike women wore. In the 1957 musical romantic comedy Funny Face, for example, the lady editor of a fashion magazine breaks into song about how women in America today have to “think pink!” By the time Mamie had left the White House, it was a popular color not just for female clothes, but also around the house as a favored women’s décor choice.
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Some Sources & Further Reading
Encyclopedia Britannica – Pink as a Girly Color
Racked – How Pink Became a Color for Girls
