Post by TM
Last Thursday I received a group email at work suggesting that we all wear something pink the next day to support Breast Cancer Awareness. That night, as I prepared my outfit for the day ahead like I usually do, I discovered that the only pink item of clothing in my wardrobe was a not-very-nice peachy coloured t-shirt with that mesh detail that was fashionable last summer on the top area and shoulders. I wore it on Friday. I was the only one who remembered!
Obviously, my work mates hadn’t forgotten to support breast cancer, they just didn’t wear pink. They probably didn’t have many pink items in their wardrobes either. Why? Because it’s a colour that comes in more horrible shades than fewer and for many reasons it’s difficult to pull off.
Like the heart print, which used to be universally worn and didn’t have that cutesy element that it has been lumbered with these days, pink wasn’t always considered (this awful word) ‘girly’. I have never been a big fan of the colour, insisting that it doesn’t suit me, and if I’m honest, not liking the whole Barbie girl aspect of it all.
I’ve slowly been changing my tune this autumn. I’m on the hunt for a really great coat and I surprised myself recently by being drawn to a pale pink number from Zara that looked a little something like this:
Pink didn’t feature too heavily in any of the SS15 fashion shows, although we saw this at Chanel. Although it leans more to the 70s trend that we’ll all be rocking next year (yessss!) we can safely say that the shade shown below will be on our radar from oh, about February.
Alexa Chung turned up to the Marc by Marc Jacobs ss15 show in what on print sounds like something Melanie Griffith in Working Girl wouldn’t even wear – a plastic-look pink pencil skirt – but she kills it. Gorgeous styling. Take note.
As I mentioned before, pink has the regrettable ability to fall into Katie Price territory. Bubble gum pink, neon pink and even pink pastel are all colours I have come to actively avoid because of her and her ilk but worn well, they can look far from atrocious.
CM experimented with pairing blue and pink in the summer and I think the colour combination would transition well into A/W too.
When you stop thinking about pink in a negative way your sartorial world opens. It’s not just for ‘girly’ (urgh that word again) girls and it can in fact – as demonstrated by the street style above – be very cool. Women don’t wear pink to make the boys wink any more, they wear it because it looks good on them and they feel good in it.
I’m going to attempt to put my pink prejudice aside and will embrace the next pink piece that catches my eye. I do have a pair of pale pink pointy, high-heeled, quite battered shoes (so I actually do wear pink from time to time!) that need an outing – fine, ok! I’ll start with them. Here goes!
I was inspired to write this post on pink because October is Breast Cancer Awareness month. Please, girls, be vigilant and check yourself out!
