Pink, Passive or Powerful for Young Girls

To me there is nothing more adorable than a 4-year-old whose mother has allowed her to dress herself in clashing pink prints of cupcakes, kittens, and poodles accessorized with polka-dot wellies.

I say bravo for encouraging creative pattern-mixing and tone-on-tone monochromatic experimentation.  

Twenty years ago, when I would ask a client what color they wanted to paint their daughter's room, the answer was something like, "My daughter doesn't like anything pink" so, we'd settle on aquamarine or purple and even earth tones chosen by the young naturalist herself which always impressed me.

Today, pink is the most requested paint color for girls' rooms.  So, I began to wonder what the heck is going on with this pink craze for girls? 

Recently, I happened to catch Peggy Orenstein, the author of Cinderella Ate My Daughter on the radio pitching her book about the current hyper-feminine trend that is transforming young girls into consumers at earlier and earlier ages.

Orenstein traces the pink movement back to a Disney executive. The story goes that after he attended a Disney on Ice show in 2000, he was horrified at the homemade princess costumes. (Heaven forbid a costume would be homemade).

The next day his team was assembled to begin a massive branding campaign referred to in-house as "Princess." When the company introduced the Princess line, it deliberately changed Sleeping Beauty's blue gown to pink, supposedly to distinguish her from Cinderella.   
 
I admit, at ... uh um, 50-something, I LOVE pink! When I wanted to wear my pink cap duck hunting, my husband disallowed it claiming that the ducks would spot us, which really hacked me off. But, after listening to Orenstein, I found myself agreeing with her condemnation of young girls wearing pink boas and T-shirts that say "spoiled" ... and then, I remembered that I had shaved a heart on my Standard Poodle's butt and dyed it pink which ended up looking more like an open wound and pretty much nixed any chance of getting my husband to walk the dog. 
   
If I could predict what colors will be trending a decade from now, I'd be sitting on a beach wearing a pink hat and drinking pink Champagne. If my lotto tickets continue to come up zilch, then I'm sure I'll hear again, "my daughter doesn't like anything pink."
 
All I can say is that I'm a believer in all things in moderation. If a little girl wants to pretend she’s a princess and a little boy pretend he’s a prince (or vice versa) I say, let them be! Just don't shave a pink heart on their little noggins and paint it pink.