Growing up I was always the pink sister, like many little girls one sister was designated the pink toys and accessories and the other (like my older sister) was gifted the same however in purple. This stopped us arguing over whose doll was whose and outlined what was ours. Soon enough everything I owned was pink and sparkly and for a time I wouldn’t have wanted it any other way. For many years if you asked me what my favourite colour was I would have said pink, that was until I started primary school.

I think it’s shocking how early girls are faced with misogyny and have adapted their personality and interests all to fit into a patriarchal society without even realising it. Once I started school the colour pink began to get further and further down the list of my favourite colours. This was because I saw other girls who liked pink being made fun of and essentially ridiculed. I have vivid memories of boys in my class avoiding pink at all costs ‘ew I’m not wearing that because it’s pink’ or ‘pink is for girls’. I, like many of the other girls around me changed my opinion on the colour in order to fit in so I wouldn’t be seen as ‘childish’ or ‘too girly’. Soon my favourite colour was blue because that felt safe and acceptable and would have been taken seriously by others. Women’s hobbies and interests are often over looked and are not deemed as important as stereotypical male hobbies. Just because the colour pink became associated with girls it was also regarded as weak perhaps unconsciously similar to how many men view women. Over the course of the next few years I never would have admitted that I liked the colour pink and convinced myself I didn’t like it, even if deep down I did.

Now this might seem a bit silly going on and on about a colour however this is just one example of how women and girls have to dull their sparkle (figuratively and literally haha) in order to be taken seriously. As well as conveying how misogyny is so deep rooted into our society and is so normalised to young girls as soon as we step out into the world.

And prejudice to the colour pink doesn’t just stop in the playground it is carried throughout the rest of life. If I showed up to a job interview dressed fully head to toe in pink I would not be taken as seriously as a man dressed in a black suit. Now history does have a part to play in some of these ideologies and I’ve found it quite interesting to find out why.

During the mid 18th century pink was actually seen as a symbol for wealth and class meaning it was worn by many aristocrats. As well as this many young boys were dressed in the colour pink (ironic I know) as it was seen as a lighter shade of red, which symbolised masculinity, strength and wealth. Although, this idea seemed to shift after WW2 when men came back from the war. In an attempt to get women back into the home posters were made in pastel colours portraying women wearing pink to feminise them and get them back into their stereotypical homemaking roles. This way of thinking carried on towards the late 1900s as we saw the colours pink and blue become gendered to expectant mothers as ultrasound scans developed along the with the idea of gender reveals. The bottom line is it was all for the sake of marketing but of course at the expense of women.

As I’ve gotten older I can now proudly say that pink is my favourite colour once again. Admitting this doesn’t make me any less serious or competent and it doesn’t make me ditsy or childish. I don’t see why I should stop liking something just because a man sees it as a weakness. Just because something is ‘girly’ doesn’t make it any less important or worthy. I am a girl and it’s ok for me to like girly things but that doesn’t define my whole personality.

Being a woman isn’t a weakness and I’ll argue it until the end of time wearing a fully pink outfit!!

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The abundance of media online has meant we are constantly bombarded with new styles that people adopt for a month before trying out something new. We have all been fed similar content and the accessibility of sites like shein have spurred on endless cycles of micro trends. The hive mind of the internet had us thinking ‘well if that’s all I’m seeing online, then maybe that’s how I should be dressing?’ probably without most of us even realising it. We’ve stopped thinking for ourselves and instead let our instagram feeds dress us without a second thought. At least that’s how it’s been until the last few months.

I’ve noticed more recently that there seems to be far less micro trends circulating the internet. People have started to realise they want to move away from dressing like everyone else and instead find their own personal style. After years of all dressing the same people now are choosing to be different. They want to show off their personality, show off who they really are. In a society full of clean girls people are realising it’s ok to have fun with fashion and not take it too seriously. This summer has brought a resurgence of colour to fashion with people bringing bright colours like pinks and teal back into their wardrobes. Everyone seems to be dressing more individually instead of following a set of rules they’ve seen online.

Now I’m not hating on following micro trends or the clean girl aesthetic because at the end of the day trends have always been a part of fashion and help the industry make money and people should dress how they like. However, it seems as though trends have been sticking around for a lot longer recently and people now make trends their own instead of everyone buying the exact same outfit they saw on Pinterest. But after years of constant changing styles I’ve found it quite nice to see people develop their own sense of style instead of mindlessly following micro trends. And it makes me wonder how trends will go on to change in the future in the developing age of new technology.

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