Could pink be Earth’s oldest color? That’s the implication of a 2018 study that found bright-pink pigments in 1.1 billion-year-old rocks — thanks to the fossils of the billions of tiny cyanobacteria that once dominated oceans.
The natural world has long been painted with every permutation of pink — whether embedded deep in ancient rock, sported by shrimp-hungry flamingoes, or simply lining the shores of Bermuda’s pink-sand beaches.
And yet the color carries a lot of cultural baggage.
As pink made the jump from nature’s palette to human adornment, it gathered connotations of colonialism, beauty, power, and gender.
How did pink become such a cultural flashpoint? As the world takes a revitalized interest in the hot-pink planet inhabited by Barbie, here’s a short history of the compelling color.
Admiration for pink in the ancient world
Early humans quickly transitioned from admiring pink in the natural world to attempting to wear it.
For example, in the Andes Mountains about 9,000 years ago, fierce hunters in what is now Peru wore tailored leather clothing with a pink hue thanks to red ochre, an iron oxide pigment that is one of the oldest natural pigments used by humans.
Humans weren’t content just to smear this pigment on cave walls or use it while tanning their leather garments.
As far back as ancient Egypt, humans used ochre to tint their lips and cheeks.
When applied to human skin, the red pigment created a blush-like pink that onlookers associated with love, sexuality, and beauty.
Lookalike concoctions prevailed around the world, employing everything from crushed strawberries to red amaranth.
The color of cosmetics—and colonialism
Though the word’s etymology is unknown, the word “pink” was used to describe the color in the 18th century.
By then, pink had become inextricably tied with colonialism — as demand for the pigment for cosmetics drove Europeans to harvest natural resources in other parts of the world.
For example, in a bid to make pinkish pigments from the bark and red sap of brazilwood trees, European traders forced enslaved workers to cut down so many of Brazil’s eponymous trees that the country was left deforested and the tree nearly driven extinct.
During this Era of Exploration, consumers also got their pink cheeks and lips from other pigments like carmine, derived from cochineal insects harvested in Central and South America under similar conditions.
Meanwhile, the color also had a more literal association with colonialism:
During this time, the British Empire grew so massive that the color pink — which mapmakers used to mark its territories worldwide — dominated the world map.
Pink becomes a bona fide fashion craze
As red tints became more accessible and cheaper, 18th-century European aristocrats indulged a passion for pink.
Art historian Michel Pastoureau writes that “the most privileged classes of European society wanted pastels, halftones, and the newest innovations in color shades in order to distinguish themselves from the middle classes, who now had access to bright, strong, and reliable colors.”
Madame de Pompadour, the mistress of Louis XV of France during the 1740s and 1750s, used the color as a signature.
The artists who painted her and created fine objects for her many homes used pink in all their designs, even her carriages, and she helped further popularize the hue throughout Europe.
The emergence of synthetic dyes in the mid-19th century — which gave rise to the purple-pink color known as mauve — made pink more accessible than ever before.
By the 1930s, bright pink had become a bona fide fashion craze.
Avant-garde fashion designer Elsa Schiaparelli made “shocking pink” her signature color, helping spread the vogue for women’s wear.
It worked: By 1935, even local newspapers like the News and Observer in Raleigh, North Carolina, were declaring that “PINK IS FAVORITE.”
And in 1939, a royal commentator wrote in London’s Daily Telegraph that pink was so popular, it was nearly ubiquitous for both bridesmaids and debutantes.
“So general is the pink craze,” the paper wrote, “that some women are rebelling against it.”
Pink is for…boys?
Around the same time, pink gained relevance in another realm: baby fashion.
Gender and baby fashion had intersected for years; around World War I, etiquette guides and fashion advice columns began advising that mothers dress their children in clothing with gender-specific hues.
But which colors? A 1927 retailer survey on infant clothing colors published in TIME shows a split nation, with retailers like Filene’s and Marshall Field’s recommending pink for boys, but Macy’s, Bullock’s, and others claiming pink was best for girls.
By the 1960s, however, mothers began buying pink clothing for their female babies, dressing their male children in pastel blues.
“None of this transition happened by childcare expert fiat or industry proclamation,” writes historian Jo B. Paoletti.
Instead, pink gained steam as a signifier of a baby’s female sex as part of a post-World War II push to reinforce traditional gender roles in American homes — and the realization by retailers that they could make more money that way.
“The more baby clothing could be designed for an individual child — and sex was the easiest and most obvious way to distinguish babies — the harder it would be for parents to hand down clothing from one child to the next, and the more clothing they would have to buy as their family grew,” Paoletti writes.
Soon, retailers featured entire “pink aisles” packed with pink-colored clothing and toys for tiny consumers.
The dark side of pink
Pink was also rejected by some as a symbol of weakness or even sinister intent.
In Nazi Germany, for example, the color was used to brand gay men in concentration and death camps.
As the Cold War emerged, suspected Communist sympathizers were given the derogatory name of “pinkos” — a term that referred to a person with “red” tendencies toward radical politics.
Meanwhile, members of the women’s liberation movement attempted to distance themselves from a color that had become inextricably linked with femininity and sexuality — think: Marilyn Monroe slinking down a staircase in a shocking pink gown, surrounded by tuxedoed men.
Anti-feminists, meanwhile, embraced pink.
Author Helen B. Andelin, for example, made public appearances in all-pink ensembles in the 1960s and 1970s during lectures encouraging women to abandon feminism and embrace lives as housewives.
Reclaiming pink
Pink remains associated with femininity to this day — but in recent decades, groups once disdainfully branded with the color have made moves to reclaim it.
In the LGBTQ community, for example, people who were once forced to wear pink as outcasts have adopted the hue as a symbol of their movement for social justice.
In 1987, the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power (ACT UP) adopted a bubble-gum pink triangle in its “Silence = Death” campaign to increase awareness of HIV-AIDS and destigmatize the disease.
It was just one example of pink being used to represent gay pride.
Some feminists have also reclaimed the color, fighting gender stereotypes with a tongue-in-cheek adoption of all shades of rose, fuchsia, and bubble-gum pink.
At the 2017 Women’s March, for example, a sea of protesters wearing pink, cat-eared “pussy hats” protested the inauguration of U.S. President Donald Trump, whose lewd remarks about female genitalia during a leaked interview drew worldwide condemnation.
Today, pink is what you make of it — and it has grown in popularity once more.
In 2016, Pantone announced that a shade of dusty pink — dubbed Millennial Pink for the generation that had embraced it—was its Color of the Year.
This year, Greta Gerwig’s upcoming Barbie movie helped fuel the rise of the pink-drenched “Barbiecore” aesthetic, inspiring admirers to saturate their homes and wardrobes with every shade of pink.
According to Axios, searches for the term “Barbiecore aesthetic room” rose over 1,000 percent between May 2022 and May 2023, reflecting consumers’ craving for as-pink-as-possible interiors.
There’s no telling which permutation of pink will captivate us next — but given the colorful history of the hues that fall somewhere between white and red, pink’s next heyday is probably right around the corner.
Barbie would approve of the pink petals on this beach morning glory.
Pink flowers like this one get their rosy tinge from a group of biological pigments called anthocyanins, which attract pollinators — and human admirers — to colors ranging from the palest carnation to the most ostentatious tropical fuchsia.
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Nevermind (Taylor Swift x reader)
She has always owned my heart pt.4
finally got over my writers block so this is a little long <3
thankyou so much @karsonromanoff for the idea!!
part one, two and three
enews
enews does anyone hear wedding bells? singer yourname.official seen wearing an ENGAGEMENT RING in a new interview... what news do her and taylorswift bring???
liked by tomhalland2013, y/n_sink and 4,205,600 others.
y/n.sink WHAT IS GOING ON IS THIS REAL????
tay.y/nforevermore TMZ POSTED AND TOM HOLLAND LIKED THIS IS HAPPENING
theerastour.updates IM FREAKING OUT WHAT THE HELL
costataylorsversion IM GONNA CRY IF THIS IS NOT TRUE IM SO HAPPY
conangray my mothers are doing what now??
oliviarodrigo oh my god yourname.official SO HAPPY FOR YOU
siriustaylorsversion NOT #mymothersaremarried TRENDING ON TWITTER WHAT 😭😭😭
snehit.13 NOT LEAVING MY PHONE UNTIL THEY CONFIRM
blakelively oh wow
tay.y/nforevermore WHAT DO YOU MEAN 'WOW'??????
y/n.sink MOM WHAT'S HAPPENING
y/n_sink
y/n_sink it's yourname.official's new story AND OH MY GOD MY PARENTS ARE MARRIED IM DEAD
liked by woodvaleisreal, y/n_sink and 100,309 others.
y/nandsadie.forevermore FORGET TEARDROPS MY GUITAR IS FLOODED
y/ntourupdates but her story is so real 😭😭😭
folkmore.forevermore THIS IS WHAT WE NEEDED BEST NEWS TO START THE NEW YEAR
yourname.official
yourname.official IM OPENING FOR THE LOVE OF MY LIFE (and the highest grossing tour, I could not be prouder)
liked by tomhalland2013, blakelively and 7,208,600 others.
taylorswift could not be more excited, my love 🥹🩷🩷
blakelively my favorite girls, oh my god <3
folkmore.forevermore CONGRATS ON THE ENGAGEMENT
y/nandsadie.forevermore YOU'RE MARRIED????????
woodvaleisreal SO SO HAPPY FOR YOU GUYS AAAAHHH
conangray CONGRATULATIONS, MOTHER (why didn't you tell me??)
yourname.official what's up with the comments?
tomholland2013 i might've accidentally liked a post...
yourname.official uh huh....
tomholland2013 it might've accidentally been about your nonexistent wedding, nevermind...
yourname.official you're dead, spidey.
folkmore WAIT WHAT IS GOING ON??
taylorswift
taylorswift we got married? looking at all the fake wedding drama like 😦
liked by yourname.official, blakelively and 7,208,600 others.
yourname.official it was fun while it lasted 💘
zendaya wait, what drama??
tomholland2013 nothing, nothing at all. i-
zendaya you good??
yourname.official got him mid-sentence... rest in peace, holland
forever.more I'M CRYING WHY IS THIS ONE NOT TRUE
y/n_sink i have never been this heartbroken, why.
folkmore.forevermore WHAT NOOO??????
blakelively i thought you didn't tell us </3
taylorswift you'd be the first one to know when it does happen
tomholland you'd say yes to her? why??
yourname.official shush, you're dead.
y/ntourupdates THAT'S IT I CAN'T DO THIS ANYMORE
jimmyfallon
jimmyfallon we're gonna have yourname.official talking about the eras tour, the wedding rumors and should she "pull a monica" for a surprise proposal? don't worry, blondie can't see this post
liked by yourname.official, blakelively and 3,200,600 others.
comments on this post have been limited
yourname.official i should go do it...
blakelively best of luck, darling <3
tmz
tmz We are not coming to you with fake news this time, that time was in yourname.official's words... "all Tom Hollands fault". On the Jimmy Fallon show, the singer revealed that all the comments by the fans made her reflect on her relationship and said that "I couldn't be happier being with my girlfriend and I just think maybe we should get married. Taylor was scared at first that the people would believe the news and we'd have to get married when I'm not ready but.. it's like that one f.r.i.e.n.d.s. episode, maybe I should pull a monica and ask her." We could not be happier for the couple, now it's up to Ms. Swift to follow her own lyrics and baby just say yes.
liked by zendaya, blakelively and 5,060,700 others.
forever.more I WAS WATCHING AND I LITERALLY SOBBED WHEN SHE SAID THIS, THEY ARE PERFECT FOR EACH OTHER
y/n_sink THEY BETTER GET MARRIED BECAUSE OH MY GOD
folkmore.forevermore IMPATIENTLY WAITING FOR NEW NEWS ON THIS BECAUSE THIS IS THE BEST THING TO BEGIN THE YEAR WITH
gracieabrams they both have such a way with words, I'm actually crying.
yourname.official
yourname.official NEVERMIND, SHE SAID YES
liked by taylorswift, blakelively and 11,060,789 others.
taylorswift I LOVE YOU SO MUCH OF COURSE I SAID YES
yourname.official YOU'RE GONNA MAKE ME CRY AGAIN
gracieabrams FINALLY 🥹💖💖
tomholland13 to think i made this happen
yourname.official shUSH
tomholland2013 congratulations and you're welcome 🙄💕
conangray YOU'RE FINALLY MARRIED AAAAAAHHHHH
oliviarodrigo CONGRATS GUYS!!
forever.more YOU GUYS ARE PERFECT FOR EACH OTHER, THIS IS AMAZING
y/n_sink LITERALLY THE BEST DAY OF MY LIFE
taylorswift
taylorswift of course i said yes, there is no other answer when it comes to her 🩷🩷🩷
liked by yourname.official, blakelively and 13,000,000 others.
had a lot of fun writing this, maybe I'll make the wedding a part 5?
stay happy and hydrated!
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For outfit ideas, I think it would be fun to explore historical outfits!! For example, I think Fin would look very cute (and prob very uncomfortable) in the knightly order outfit of Gustaf Mauritz Armfelt, an important (and very interesting!!) Finnish diplomat from the 18th century
This got lost in my drafts, sorry about that, anon!! This is a nice request, historical outfits are fun to draw! (I agree, this outfit must feel a bit uncomfortable)
And you're right; Armfelt was a fascinating character. I definitely recommend that people read more about him if Swedish/Finnish history interests you! But very simply put, he was a powerful official in Gustav III's court (and one of the king's rumored lovers) who was later declared a traitor in Sweden for treason. After the Swedish coup of 1809 and the deposition of the king, Armfelt moved to the newly seized Grand Duchy of Finland and continued his political career in the Russian Empire, helping to lift Finland's status and rights significantly.
But in general, the era of the Swedish kingdom's split into Sweden and Finland is so interesting - with many characters like Armfelt. In Sweden, the nobles and officials who stayed in Finland and pledged the oath of allegiance to the old enemy, Russia, were seen as traitors. Though not everyone swore the alliance, some individual soldiers and officials, still loyal to the crown, ended up fleeing and residing in Sweden.
But in parts of the high Finnish society, the dissatisfaction with the crown had existed for a while already (e.g., Anjala Conspiracy, Proclamation of Empress Elizabeth of 1742, Sprengtporten's constitution of 1786). Note that these attempts weren't motivated by nationalistic motifs but out of frustration with the domestic politics in the kingdom. The absolute monarchy was abolished in Sweden in 1719, basically due to the catastrophe that was the Great Northern War (especially in Finland). However, King Gustav III restored the old monarchy in a coup d'état of 1772 and launched more wars with Russia over the rule of the Baltic Sea. So it's probably no coincidence that the dissatisfaction grew especially in the eastern part of the kingdom throughout the 18th century. The final blow being the incompetence during the Finnish War of 1808.
And the position that Alexander I of Russia offered to "Finns" in 1809 was very favorable; by pledging loyalty in the Diet of Porvoo, the Grand Duchy got to keep its constitution, laws, language, religion, and even the taxes that it collected for itself. The first few decades of the Grand Duchy were critical in creating the path to independent Finland. And, of course, significant political changes happened in Sweden as well. Losing a third of the land area and a fourth of the population led to Sweden demanding their neighbor Norway as compensation in 1814
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