‘The question mark over pink is no longer about whether real men can wear it; it’s about whether real women can’
The question mark over pink is no longer about whether real men can wear it; it’s about whether real women can. Being relaxed about gender norms is terrifically 2015, after all. A man in pink is smart and modern, as is a woman in a navy double-breasted jacket. Pink-for-little-girls is at best a cliche, at worst a societal evil to be campaigned against. Pink for big girls, meanwhile, suggests you are either immature (as in, a bit old to dress like Barbie) or out-of-date (as in, a bit young to dress like the Queen Mother).
Fashion has dodged this question by whitewashing pink to a rosy neutral and rebranding it “blush”. Blush has become the acceptable face of pink, a pink to save your blushes. If bright pink is the commercialised, commodified colour of femininity – think of Marilyn Monroe singing Diamonds Are A Girl’s Best Friend in her high-shine fuchsia frock – then a dusty, plaster-of-Paris off-pink is the acceptable arthouse alternative.
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