The stereotype that leads us to define the color blue or blue as male and that rose as female It is not as ancient as it might seem. Until the early 1900s, small children dressed almost all in the same way, that is, with white clotheseasy to wash and reuse. Both male and females they wore skirts up to 6-7 years, then the former were symbolically passed to the pantsentering the male world. The clothing was therefore more practical than symbolic, and the idea that the colors should distinguish the sexes simply did not exist.
The fashion historian Jo B. Paoletti He has dedicated years of research to the history of childish clothing, and in his book “Pink and Blue“He explained how the rose for females and blue for males have only imposed themselves In the mid -twentieth centuryspecifically since the 80s. What is certain is that pink and blue, like rigid gender codesthey are an invention of the modern world, and of western culture in particular.
At the end of the 19th century, the squad was for males and blue for females
In the late ‘800, in conjunction with a wide availability of commercial dyes on the European and then US market, the idea of clothes be spreaded to spread pastel colors for babieswithout the association between pink and females and blue and males was obvious. Indeed, in some cases it was exactly the opposite: in 1918for example, an American commercial publication wrote that “the generally accepted rule is pink for males and blue for females“.
The rose in fact it was considered one strong shadeclose to red, therefore more virile e Suitable for males; The blue, More delicate, pure and gracefulon the other hand, was perfect for the angelicated vision that there was females. This style of style was not isolated: a table published in 1927 by the Time magazine showed how many department stores they recommend the pink for males. In short, the chromatic binarism There was, even if inverted compared to today, but survived only until the first decades of the last century.
Because the rose has become the color of females and the blue that of males
In the 1940s, American manufacturers of children’s dresses made an unusual – and still never explained today –reversal of the trendand they decided that the rose was more suitable for females and blue for males. Large companies and catalogs began to advertise this new genre fashion for babies, influencing parents’ choices. Fashion arrived much more gradually in Europe, under American cultural and commercial influence (films, advertising and mass products), but did not take root particularly. In fact, in 60s and 70son the wave of feminism, it returned to fashion using similar color clothes for males and females, thus avoiding gender distinctions.
Things changed in the mid -1980s, when the prenatal tests: The market took advantage of this precious novelty to direct parents to buy objects that responded to the genre of the unborn child, and re -proposed in the shops and shopping centers of the rips and other baby items with the colors distinct by gender: moreover, in the perspective of marketing, The more the clothes are customized, the more you can sell.
Today, however, we are witnessing a new change: more and more young (especially Gen Z) see the genre as something not binary And also fashion is adapting, offering increasingly clothes catalogs every year Gender-Neutral For males and females. What about pink and blue? They will probably not disappear so quickly from the marketing offers, but in a few years perhaps they will stop being gender labels.
