Fifty Shades of Pink on View at The Museum at FIT's New Fashion Exhibit
Sweatshirt, featuring photo of Cam’ron wearing pink fur, circa 2003, anonymous donor. All photographs © The Museum at FIT
Millennial pink. Camron’s signature baby pink. A Claude Montana fuchsia power suit. Nicki Minaj’s hot pink latex outfit from the 2017 VMAs. Elsa Schiaparelli’s Shocking Pink. One of the most subversive yet delicate colors in fashion history - pink- is examined in all of its complexity at The Museum at FIT. The exhibit Pink: The History of a Punk, Pretty, Powerful Color looks at three centuries of the iconic color pink through history, pop culture, society, and gender norms.
My first memory of pink (as an 80s baby) was my Jem doll, carnation pink manicures my mom allowed as a six-year-old, and seeing Madonna’s Material Girl video. Pink has always been influential in my life and in my sartorial choices. Walking through the #HistoryofPink show was almost orgasmic and incredibly delightful. Pink has meant so many things throughout the times. In 18th-century Europe, it was a color of status and style worn by both genders, in aristocratic circles. In 20th-century U.S. life, in the forties and fifties, pink became hyper-binary, pink for girls, blue for boys.
Pink is also incredibly erotic. In Janelle Monáe’s PYNK music video, Monáe struts her pansexuality across a gorgeous desert, surrounded by her squad of femmes in pink velvet leotards. Monáe’s flower petal-inspired pants look like the insides of a pretty vulva. Pink is also the primary color in the commodification of mainstream feminism of the 21st century. Pink pussy hats at the 2017 Women’s March anyone? So go see this marvelous show and then grab a matcha latte at the all-pink Cha Cha Matcha across the street!
Pink: The History of a Punk, Pretty, Powerful Color will be on view until January 5, 2019 at The Museum at FIT
Claude Montana, suit, 1980s, France, museum purchase. All photographs © The Museum at FIT
Anita Holmquist, Pussyhat, 2017, USA, Gift of Colleen Hill. All photographs © The Museum at FIT
Jil Sander, suit, 2011, Germany, museum purchase. All photographs © The Museum at FIT
Puma x Fenty, ensemble, Spring 2017, Germany, Gift of Puma. All photographs © The Museum at FIT
Zach Hilty for BFA.
Zach Hilty for BFA.
Zach Hilty for BFA.
