Do you remember back in 1991, that episode of The Simpsons where Homer wore a pink shirt to work and got thrown in a mental institute? If you’re part of the generation of guys who saw that episode at a formative age when it originally aired, you were probably more than a little dubious when pink shirts for men suddenly emerged more than a decade later.
But despite what you might have learned from Western culture and media, for a long time pink’s status as a (really) watered-down version of red made it perfectly acceptable for dudes to wear. It wasn’t until about the 1920’s when pink became an almost exclusively feminine color, and the idea that boys should wear blue really gained steam.
A few years ago though, the tide of fashion shifted again, and once more pink became a man’s color – well, for men who bought into the whole metro-sexual phenomenon at least. Suddenly words like “mauve” and “magenta” entered the active vocabulary of guys everywhere as pink dress shirts became red hot. Major fashion brands around the world began producing peach- and salmon-colored shirts for “softer”, more fashion-conscious men.
But now that designers are again shifting their focus to the slightly slobbier, less sensitive everyman, is pink still practical in this post-Queer Eye world of ours? The answer really depends on who you are, and who you ask. There are loads of macho-men out there who still say that the only time you should touch pink cloth is when you’re helping a woman take it off. Yet, you can probably find quiet a few guys who see not problem wearing it themselves.
Sure, the pink shirt has definitely not crossed the line into red-blooded male respectability, and it’s not an item that every man can pull off. If you’re not quite so rough around the edges, and secure about your masculinity, pink is perfectly fine – try matching a casual pink shirt with khakis or other light earth-tone trousers and keep track of how many complements you get from the ladies.
The pink shirt can also hold its own in several different work situations as well (unless you work for Mr. Burns, see above). At business conferences and trade shows, where you’ll probably be adrift in a sea of nondescript whites and blues, wearing a pink shirt can be a great way to get noticed without being too flamboyant. With most other professional service jobs, wearing pink can show that you’re comfortable with yourself and not trying to prove anything. For higher echelon positions involving sales and negotiation though, pink may be looked at as too unassertive or non-threatening, so you may want to hold off on wearing your rose-colored duds until the weekend.
We realize, despite recent trends, that pink is still heavily associated with frilly dresses, plastic dolls and other things ten-year-old girls love – in other words, the very antithesis of everything traditionally considered manly. But the times are a-changin’ and it’s definitely more acceptable now for guys to be pretty in pink than it was ten years ago. In the end, it’s really the man who makes the clothes and as long as you’re comfortable and confident with what you wear, more power to you.
Tags: Casual Wear, Pink, Shirt Color, Work Shirts
