There are many colours to choose from when there’s the desire or need to make something stand out and demand attention - red lipstick to contrast with a monochrome outfit, a neon yellow highlighter to make an important point on a page stand out. My expressive colour of choice is pink - a slab of fuchsia here and a splattering of cerise there. Pink is what I’m automatically drawn to for an uplift but its complexity, which I’ll draw upon here, ensures that I seldom tire of it.
My adoration for rosy hues comes from their contradictions. There’s the pastel variety that evoke sentimental visions of sugarplum fairies and marshmallows. Though contrast lighter shades with black, such as erotic lingerie firm Agent Provocateur’s branding, and the colour becomes seductively adult. Then there are tones like revolutionary fashion designer Elsa Schiaparelli’s Shocking Pink which declare boldness, confidence and overall fierceness - shades that refuse to blend into the background. Yet strong darker pinks don’t feel as aggressive as reds potentially can and although it contains the latter colour it can be calming.
The most striking and uplifting colours found in nature include pink. Cherry blossom is emblematic of the beauty of spring and is uplifting after the dark winter months even though its flowering is very brief. Many visitors to Japan book their trip in the hope of catching the breathtaking views of sakura in time. Sunrises and sunsets glow warm salmon pinks such as those seen over the Annapurna mountain range in Nepal with brilliant snow white peaks momentarily transformed into a seemingly supernatural view. Joyful natural pink, whether you’re snorkelling over coral reef or going for a walk in your local park, can be found pretty much everywhere and beautifully contrasts or compliments its surroundings.
Pink in architecture is used in incredibly diverse ways. There’s the “Pink City” Jaipur with its majestic buildings in soft terracotta pinks, such as the striking Hawa Mahal, Built in 1799, the Hawa Mahal boasts a staggering elaborately decorated front of 953 jharokhas windows so women of the household could look out onto the street without being seen in an innovatively air conditioned space. Moving from a home for Indian royalty to that for a Hollywood queen, one of the greatest masterpieces of kitsch history has got to be the late blonde bombshell Jayne Mansfield’s pink palace on Sunset Boulevard. Bought by Mansfield in 1957, the mediterranean style mansion was transformed with baby pink and white and boasted, amongst many other Valentine-esque delights, a heart shaped swimming pool and a fountain spurting pink Champagne. Wherever pink appears in architecture, on a grand palatial structure or a small cosy terraced house, it is always an uncompromising statement that refuses to be ignored.
Fashion’s relationship with pink is a wild and diverse affair. Depending on the combination of garment and wearer, pink can whisper grace and elegance or let out a rebel war cry. Whether the pink in question is deemed refined or anarchic it still often challenges perceptions. In 1957 in a Roman villa Norman Parkinson took one of his most iconic photographs - Audrey Hepburn encased in a pale pink circle cocktail dress by Givenchy while posing with a magnificent cascade of bright bougainvillea. With hair neatly tied back and swept aside and a soft lip colour complimenting the flowers, Hepburn exudes an ultra fashionable elegance combined with a fresh natural beauty brought out by the pinkishness of the image. In 1977 Zandra Rhodes picked up where Elsa Schiaparelli and her surrealist friends left off and used pink for a new shocking movement - punk - and the new designer was hailed as its so-called princess. Rhodes’ Conceptual Chic collection consisted of torn up jersey fabric dresses of bright pink and black strategically held together with safety pins - it embodied anarchy with a touch of romanticism through the drapes of long fabrics in sharp pink.
Want to turn everyone’s heads the moment you walk into a room? Wear pink. Jay Gatsby caused a stir in his pink suit in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby. On the one hand this pastel three-piece was a possible giveaway that Gatsby did not come from a privileged class he pretended to be (“An Oxford Man!....Like hell he is! He wears a pink suit!”) yet on the other it gave him a image of effortless confidence that couldn’t be matched. Away from fiction in 1984 Duran Duran’s keyboardist Nick Rhodes (no relation to Zandra) married American model and heiress Julie Anne Friedman with a lavish art deco pink-themed wedding. Rhodes wore a pink satin morning suit fitted to emphasise a narrow waist while his bride squeezed into a pale pink lace fishtail dress full of ruffles at the base. Both wore Yves Saint Laurent pink lipstick shade No.32. The Rhodes-Friedman wedding was 1980s decadence at its finest with New Romantic sensibilities. No wedding guest could possibly steal the show.
Pink - it’s adored, it’s embraced, it’s feared and it’s spat at. But best to be talked about than not at all. Pink is natural and fake, beautiful and ugly - it will never compromise and that’s the wonder of it. A diverse colour which always makes a statement intentional or not. Go on, be brave - I dare you to stand out in tomorrow morning’s commute in a bright pink tie or dress. Life’s too short to stay safe in blacks and greys - come out and play.
