The Glorious and Tragic History of the Color Pink

By Richard Eric Weigle

The color pink has always been controversial and has taken on numerous meanings and symbolism throughout the centuries. In Japan, it is a symbol of masculinity and used for mourning slain samurai, in Korea, it is a sign of trustworthiness, and in China, it symbolizes love, joy and good luck.

In the West, its meaning has shifted from one extreme to the other over the last three centuries. In the 1700s it started showing up in French fashion and was a favorite of the European bourgeoisie. Pastel pink was favored by both men and women from their gowns to men’s embroidered silk coats found in the court of Louis XVI.

It soon became prevalent in home décor because of its soothing nature and became prominent in art such as Claude Monet’s lilies and Edgar Degas’ dancers.

As pink dyes became more accessible over the years, the color lost its association with wealth and prestige. In the 1920s U.S. department stores such as Marshall Fields began to market blue for boys and pink for girls leading to a host of clothes, toys and even furniture ear-marked for each sex.

In Nazi Germany in the 1930s and 1940s, the pink triangle facing downward became a badge used to label homosexual men. Homosexuality was made illegal in Germany in 1871 but rarely enforced until the Nazis took power in 1933 and declared their mission to racially and culturally purify Germany. They arrested thousands of gay men whom they viewed as degenerate. The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum estimates that 100,000 gay men were arrested and many were placed in concentration camps. Pink was not the only color used to label people. Yellow stars were used for Jews, brown was used for gypsies, red was for political prisoners, green for criminals, blue for immigrants, and black for prostitutes.

Approximately 65% of gay men in concentration camps died between 1933 and 1945. Even after World War II, both East and West Germany upheld their country’s anti-gay law and many gays remained incarcerated until the early 1970s. The law was not officially repealed until 1994. Today Germany has legalized gay marriage, and in the early 1970s gay men around the world reclaimed the pink triangle as a symbol of liberation and turned the triangle with the point facing upward as a sign of hope. Many homomonuments around the world utilize triangles and often pink ones, in their design, perhaps most notably the Homomonument on the Prinsengracht Canal in Amsterdam. It should be noted that The Netherlands was the first country to pass legislation legalizing gay marriage. There are currently pink triangle memorials from San Francisco to Sydney.

During World War II, many women worked for the war effort and took on traditional men’s jobs in factories and shipyards. During that time and post World War II, men’s clothing became more masculine glorifying uniforms, cowboy attire and later leather jackets and t-shirts made popular by Marlon Brando, James Dean and others. While men’s fashions became increasingly more masculine, women were often expected to quit working, stay home, raise the kids, and at the same time look glamorous and more feminine. Hence the explosion of pink appliances, pink flowered wallpaper, curtains, bedspreads, women’s clothes and accessories, and perhaps far too many pink tiled bathrooms.

It seemed as though the color pink was everywhere in films, music, art, cocktails, make-up, candy, desserts, and most recently in the cultural phenomenon called Barbie, the movie that has become the highest grossing film of all time. Meanwhile a pink slip at the office is not something you ever wanted to see as it usually meant termination.

In recent years the color pink has also become a symbol for activism with the pink ribbon symbolizing breast cancer awareness and the pink “pussy hat” worn by thousands of women during the Women’s March on Washington who were protesting sexism and the Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v Wade.

Throughout the centuries, the color pink has been an influential presence that is constantly changing. Many pundits of history and culture try to predict what future generations will think of the color pink. Since there are over 20 shades of pink from blush and rose to hot pink and magenta, it would seem that it is a color that offers something for everyone. One thing we know for sure is that whatever transpires concerning the color pink, it will probably not be predictable.