Well, thanks to Barbie, we are all covered in pink these days. But the thing is that our boy was pretty in pink way before it was THE color! 🙂
Well, when you see your favorite actor in a three-piece pink suit, you sit down and write about the man and the color.
Now, here is a simple question for you: What comes to your mind first when you think about the color pink? A little girl dressed in princess attire? Pink-wrapped chocolate on Valentine’s Day? Cherry blossoms or pink roses maybe if you are into flowers or radishes and rhubarbs if you are a foodie.
Pink is a positive color for sure. A charming color. But is it really girly? Or are we somehow wired to think that way? And, hey, some guys can look PRETTY IN PINK! 😀
Exhibit A:
See what Damian Lewis says about PINK on Jonathan Ross Show in 2012:
“Well, Molly Ringwald could do it, I thought… you know…”
Why not, Damian?
I really love the ’80s touch to the conversation 🙂 And the matching pink socks, too… Brilliant! And, by the way, it’s not just Molly… Elvis could do it, too 🙂
I just don’t understand why most men limit themselves to the so-called “manly colors” of black, grey and blue, and miss red, orange, yellow and, of course, the most controversial of all: PINK!
Pink is arguably the girliest color of all, and still a controversial color for men, and I argue it’s mostly because our minds are just trained that way.
Pink is reserved for girls, and, believe me, when you go to Baby GAP, you are almost not allowed to buy pink stuff for baby boys, they literally write “baby girl” on the pink pants or caps 🙂 Come on, this is too much! And historians tell us that it was not always so. According to a CNN article about the complicated history of the color pink, Valerie Steele, the director of the Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York says that, both little boys and little girls of the upper class wore pink and blue and other colors uniformly in the 18th century. Moreover, Leatrice Eiseman, a color expert and the executive director of the Pantone Color Institute adds that pink was actually considered to be masculine color back then!
“It was related to the mother color of red, which was ardent and passionate and more active, more aggressive. Even though you reduce the shade level, it was a color that was associated with boys.”
Eiseman goes on to say that the trade journal The Infants’ Department published an article titled “Pink and Blue” in 1918 said that pink for boys and blue for girls was the generally accepted rule.
And an article in Telegraph agrees with Leatrice Eiseman:
“Pink during the 1920s was seen as the cousin of red; warlike and masculine, and with working class connotations. Pink seersucker suits were traditionally worn by the help during the summer months, and were later adopted as a kind of very elegant workwear by some upper-class New Yorkers.”
So we now know why Jay shows up to lunch with his mistress and her husband in a pink suit! Not because he is making a statement but because pink is in fashion for men at the time!
But then what happened?
Valerie Steele believes that two 18th century paintings bought by the American millionaire Henry Huntington in 1920s had an influential role in making pink a girls’ color. These two paintings were called “Blue Boy” depicting a boy dressed in blue, and “Pinkie” portraying a girl in pink attire.
According to Steele, the paintings had a lot of publicity in the American press which made people start to think that blue has been the boys’ color and pink has been the girls’ color for hundreds of year. But this was actually not true.
“If you look back, little boys in the 18th century wore blue and pink, and grown-up men wore blue and pink, and ladies and little girls wore blue and pink.”
And the modern marketing strategies sealed the deal! The Art of Manliness explains:
“Around the turn of the century, books on infant development encouraged parents to distinguish their children’s gender from an earlier age, and manufacturers saw that there was more money to be made in producing sex-specific clothing; if parents had a girl and then a boy, they couldn’t hand down the first child’s clothing to the second, and would instead have to purchase a whole new wardrobe. In the midst of these two currents, and for reasons that aren’t entirely clear, adoption of the pink-for-girls/blue-for-boys rule became more universal.”
In my opinion, PINK looks good on men, it brings a subtle touch of softness and sensitivity. A man wearing pink is confident, and in touch with his emotions, in other words, he is my kind of man. Leatrice Eiseman agrees:
“It does take a man who would look at it and say, ‘I am not threatened by wearing pink’ or ‘I don’t think I am going to be viewed by other people as being too effeminate if I wore pink.’ ”
Here is Exhibit B for you 🙂
GQ’s comment on Damian’s outfit at MET Gala:
“Pink is a big color in the exhibit, and for the night (maybe you caught it on the ladies). Lewis gets big points from us for working it into his traditional tux. It’s a subtle touch, but one that separates him from the black-and-white pack.”
And Exhibit C:
Daily Mail gives accolades to Damian’s pink floral shirt:
“Damian added a splash of colour to proceedings by donning his teal velvet two-piece with a pink floral shirt, finishing the casual look with brown suede boots.”
I am, of course, not in any way suggesting all guys should walk around in 50 shades of pink all the time! I am just saying that guys should also experience with color, and hey, showing a little bit of your soft, fun and sensitive side is not a crime, believe me! Just sayin’!
Exhibit D:
Exhibit E: Can PINK look any better? Well done, Damian!
And a close-up just to make my final point stronger 😀
But Exhibit F that has recently been posted on Instagram by Whitley London beats them all!
We certainly do not know the reason behind Damian wearing this three-piece pink suit. But do we have ideas? Yes we certainly do! One possibility is due to the fact that Damian attended the rock band The Big Pink’s private launch party as well as some after-party following the band’s concert last week. So maybe he surprised his musician friends with his pink suit at the second event from which we didn’t see any pictures. Another possibility is that he will channel Elvis in this suit either on the cover of his upcoming album or during a performance on stage – all my fingers crossed for that!
Independent of why Damian is wearing a pink three-piece suit, when it is displayed or worn especially in the month of October, PINK means only one thing to yours truly: Breast Cancer Awareness. My husband and I lost two friends to this cruel disease and I have a very close friend who recently fought and thankfully beat it, so I am as close to an activist as one can get when it comes to breast cancer.
My husband and I donate to Breast Cancer Research Foundation regularly and we run the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure several times in the past. In fact, afterr Susan G. Komen Foundation gave pink ribbons to runners in their 1991 NYC Race for Survivors, the pink ribbon became the official symbol of Breast Cancer Awareness Month the following year.
Look at our pictures below from Race for the Cure in 2014 and 2015 : we are hilarious and very proud 🙂
And I give it to the guys at the Race for the Cure that some of them were so comfortable, including my husband, wearing pink as well as posing for pictures in pink.
Cheers to all guys who can make PINK their own. We love you <3 And to the lovely ladies who follow Fan Fun – take as much time as you need looking at our guy who is very pretty in pink but then please do not forget to schedule your annual mammogram. Take the time for yourself. Early detection may save lives.
UPDATE (10/28/2022): Thanks to Alison who posted a picture from New Orleans, we now know what the three-piece suit is about! Hope she took our jazz cat to Spotted Cat – my favorite jazz place in New Orleans (I am sure she knows better places though!)
UPDATE (10/31/2022): And this Halloween tweet comes from our guy himself!
Happy Halloween New Orleeeeens style!!! pic.twitter.com/RPpbYN3nZQ
— Damian Lewis (@lewis_damian) October 31, 2022
And this look totally inspired us when Gingersnap and I put our heads together to design Damian’s birthday cake this year!
