Pink and blue today is quite distinct as colours for babies. The lines are blurring now however it is still common to associate pink with girls and blue with boys. Where did this trend come from?
Pink
Pink is a category of colour in of itself. There are no natural pigments of pink, it is essentially a light red. Pink became its own category when pale red carnation flowers were called ‘pinks’ due to the notches on the flowers. They looked like they had been trimmed with pinking shears, which is a pair of scissors used to give a frilled or notched edge to fabric or paper. Since then, it is quite distinct from red as a colour category but still associated with red.
Blue
Blue is the world’s favourite colour. It has the shortest wavelengths and so is the last colour the eye actually sees. The name for colours are usually derived from nature however there aren’t that many things in nature that are blue. The sky and sea appear blue, and there are a handful of blue animals and plants. Blue things in nature are commonly some shade of violet. As a word, blue stems from green or black across most cultures.
Pink is Feminine, Blue is Masculine
This begins with babies. In the late 1800s, an article was published in New York promoting a new colour trend: baby boys should wear pink and baby girls should wear blue. Before this, babies were generally dressed in white. Pink is associated with red which is a masculine and powerful colour and so appropriate for boys. Blue is seen as calm and delicate and so appropriate for girls. This trend hit Britain in the early 1900s.
Some shifts began in the 1930s but in the 1950s, marketing took it to a whole new level. Campaigns began stating that pink was the colour for girls, small or large. This really took off after this and brought a whole new meaning to pink and blue.
It is easing off now as the lines between genders are becoming more fluid. It is still common however and can be seen in the trend of ‘gender reveals’ which associates pink for girls and blue for boys.
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