"In the 18th century, it was perfectly masculine for a man to wear a pink silk suit with floral embroidery," says fashion scholar Valerie Steele, director of The Museum at the Fashion Institute Technology and author of several books on fashion. Steele says pink was initially "considered slightly masculine as a diminutive of red," which was thought to be a "warlike" color.
As I seem to be using pinks and lilacs as a part of my colour palette, the response is interesting. A man who came to the opening of a show I did a couple of years ago in Claremont, looking at my "Lotus Series" predominantly using pink hues, said something like "its too pink for me" , subtext "its too feminine" I think this is an interesting response to a colour, especially given that our associations with the colour have been very different at times of our history. How strange to have a colour totally allied with one sex. I notice its very strong this division especially in the US, my American husband will not wear a pink shirt, my brother, a Brit living in London, will. Maybe that's why gay men often take on this colour, to own their feminine side. I find there is a subtle misogyny in this dismissive labeling of pink and will continue to work with it. A new batch of work , the "Whitehot Series" which continues this exploration of "feminine" colours.
