The Evolution of Pink in Society
The colour of romance, childhood and raw vertebrate meat
Pink is a lighter version of red. It is the only colour, maybe except grey, that has its own category in the West, and has successfully moved to the East. Pink is not really lumped with red, it is a feminine colour all on its own with its own tones that are quite distinct from associations with red.
While there are many tones of grey, it is still associated with being a mix of black and white. Other colours like light blues and light greens are still associated with blue and green. One wouldn’t necessarily look at shocking pink or bubble gum pink and associate it with red, it’s a tone of pink.
Language.
For most European languages, the word ‘pink’ is derived from ‘rose’. In English, pink originally meant a version of yellow lightened with chalk. Pink was also a term to describe a frilled edge which lead to the term ‘pinking shears’, which is a cutting device, today a pair of scissors, to give a notched or frilled edge to paper or fabric. The verb ‘to pink’ dates back to the 14th century.
Pink started to become a category of its own in 17th and 18th centuries. The category of colour derives from pale red carnation flowers which looked like they had been trimmed with pinking shears. They became known as ‘pinks’ because of the notches, and then pink became associated with the light red colour.
The term ‘pink sheet stocks’ refers to a stock that isn’t traded on a major stock exchange, it is traded over the counter. These are small but high risk stocks for unlisted companies. Before the digital era, the information for these stocks was printed on pink paper hence the term, pink sheet stocks. The name stuck even though things are now digital.
To be given a ‘pink slip’ meant losing your job. It was first recorded in 1915 in the US.
Pigments
There are no natural pigments of pink used for our purposes like dyes and paints. When pink was used in paintings, it was made from mixing red and white. Now we have synthetic pigments for pink.
In nature, raw meat tends to have a red pink hue. The muscles of vertebrate animals contain the protein myoglobin, which binds oxygen and iron atoms. When the meat is cooked, these proteins undergo oxidation and gradually turn from red to pink to brown. This is the common colour change for beef. Pork contains less myoglobin than beef and so begins with a less intense red tone as raw. When it’s cooked, it goes to pink to light pink and white. These processes vary for different cuts of meat and animals and the different processing procedures. Ham is sold with a pinkish tone which is down to the processing of it.
Flamingos are pink because their diet is based on animal and plant plankton. These are rich in carotenoids which is a red pink pigment. This pigment is called astaxanthin and is present in crustaceans and also salmon. Other pink animals include a pink iguana found on the Galapagos Islands and a pink dolphin. Pigs have been domesticated for over 10,000 years and have been selectively bred to favour pink skin as it is preferred by the farmers.
Pink is a common colour of flowers, evolved to attract insects and birds for pollination. The natural pigment for pink flowers is anthocyanins, which is also the pigment present in raspberries.
There are some natural pink minerals such as pink topaz, pink sapphire and rose quartz.
Tones
As all colours, pink can be mixed with white or black and can be made cool or warm. Warm light pinks include blushes and nudes. Cool light pinks are tones like rose and dusty magenta. Bubble-gum is a cool brighter tone.
Shocking pink originated in 1937 after a surrealist designer, Elsa Schiaparelli, launched a perfume in a bottle shaped like a woman’s body in the bright colour. The name of shocking pink was inspired by a pink diamond worn by her friend Daisy Fellowes.
Pink is seen as soft, feminine, cuddles and romantic. However a bright pink like shocking pink, alongside a colour like black, denotes a lot of energy.
General use in society
Ancient civilisations
Pink was previously referred to as ‘rose’ or ‘rosy’ and these references date back to early civilisations, though not a lot.
Middle Ages and Renaissance
Pink wasn’t a popular colour to wear as it would have been difficult to make and for the colour to maintain. Red was favoured as a royal and wealthy colour. There were some small examples of using pink in paintings, particularly to depict the child body of Christ as it denoted even then, a sense of innocence and childhood. Pink paint would have been made using red and white natural pigments.
Pink began to grow in popularity in the 17th and 18th centuries. Madame de Pompadour was an advocate of wearing pink and pink became popular in paintings. It was particularly used to portray flesh tones.
In the 18th century, pink buildings started to be built and the trend continued. These were usually built of brick or sandstone which takes its pale red colour from hematite or iron ore.
Modern Era
Pink came into its own in modern society and particularly when synthetic chemical pigments were developed to use as dyes, paint and as food colouring.
Pink is associated with romance alongside red, but it is a toned down more feminine version. Red is seen as almost lustful and energetic, pink is like a soft romantic cuddle.
Breast cancer uses pink as their brand colour.
Pink as a feminine colour came about in the 1950s gradually picking up from the 1930s, when marketing campaigns targeted women with the colour pink. Before this, pink was a boy’s colour, specifically for baby boys. Pink was originally associated with red when it came to the mainstream market and so was seen as masculine, hence the best colour for baby boys. Blue was for baby girls. This changed mid-20th century and has stuck since.
The famous boxer, Sugar Ray Robinson, favoured pink before the feminine trend took off. He had a bright pink car and suit.
Baker-Miller Pink is a famous colour that is painted on cell blocks in prisons and used to reduce the aggression for inmates. As pink is a red with white in it, the white tones the energy down of the red and so one simply can’t be too angry in the face of pink.
Pink elephants in popular culture is associated with hallucinations.
Pink is very much associated with sweet foods and drinks in the modern era and also with roses. Strawberry and raspberry flavoured foods are more pinkish as opposed to flavours like cherry which are distinctly quite red. The pink in foods is normally artificial food colouring.
Pink is also used as the colour for groups like lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender.
Since 1893, the Financial Times has printed their newspaper on a salmon pink toned paper.
In the popular film Mean Girls, the plastics wear pink on Wednesdays.
