Lessonpills

1

Think about these questions before watching. Share your ideas with a partner.

In many cultures, some colors are seen as 'for boys' and others as 'for girls'. What are some examples from your country, and why do you think this is?
Think about a color that is very popular in fashion or home design right now. Why do you believe this color has become so trendy?
How much influence do you think famous people, movies, or social media have on the colors we choose to wear or use in our homes?

2

Watch the video carefully. Pay attention to the main ideas and key details.

Video script46 segments · click a timestamp to jump

In 1927 Time Magazine took a survey of all the major department stores across the country.

They wanted to know which colors they associated with girls in their clothing lines.

The answers came back pretty mixed.

There's also a catalogue in 1918 that suggests that little girls should all wear blue because

it's a delicate and dainty color.

That’s Jennifer Wright, she’s an author and often writes about history and fashion

for Racked.

It was only after the war that pink got the symbolic association that we have today.

In 1953, Dwight Eisenhower, the general who won World War II, becomes president and this

actually turns out to be a pretty important moment in the history of pink.

It was Ike's inauguration and Mamie Eisenhower came out in this enormous rhinestone-studded

pink ballgown, the likes of which you never would've seen during the war when women were

wearing much simpler styles.

Mamie Eisenhower loved the color pink, and she was known for it.

She thought that the pink really brought our her complexion.

She had really pretty blue eyes, it was a nice contrast.

In fact, a quick search of newspaper headlines mentioning Mamie Eisenhower also reference

the color pink pretty frequently.

And it wasn’t just called pink, it was called “Mamie pink”

And she went around giving quotes like "Ike runs the country, I turn the pork chops."

But yeah, it was a very arbitrary decision that she just loved pink and everybody else

decided, OK this is the color that lady-like women wear.

There's a great song in Funny Face called "Think Pink."

Where the lady editor of the magazine who is very much based off of Diana Vreeland sings

about how women in America today have gotta think pink.

And there's a great line in it where she says "banish the black, burn the blue," which are

two colors the women would've seen a lot of during the war years.

Around this time, pink became a popular color, not only in just women's clothing, but also

in the home.

This was something a lot of women liked, by the way, it wasn't seen as a terribly oppressive

thing.

But, there were definitely women like Diana Vreeland who didn't really want to revert

to those traditional roles.

It was at this point where you start to see the color pink representing women real and

fictional who were anything but traditional.

The champion racecar driver Donna Mae Mims is a really good example of this.

She had a pink uniform and a pink helmet and a pink racecar.

There's the pink ladies in Grease and the Plastics in Mean Girls.

The girls who are incredibly canny and kind of terrifying, brightly explain

There's a great cover of Hillary Clinton on the cover of People magazine wearing a bright

pink jacket and the caption next to it is how we need to break the highest, hardest

glass ceiling as women.

So she's pretty much doing the opposite of what Mamie Eisenhower wanted to do.

This isn't just about the color pink, it's about how it's used to define a person's personality

and what we think they're capable of.

She still wants to show people that really, I'm just a girl, just like you.

3

Answer these questions in your own words. Support your answers with evidence from the video.

01According to the video, what was the general opinion about colors for girls before World War II?

Sample answerIt wasn't a fixed rule. The video says a 1927 survey had mixed answers, and a catalogue from 1918 even suggested blue for girls because it was seen as a delicate color.

02Who was Mamie Eisenhower and how did she influence the popularity of the color pink?

Sample answerShe was the president's wife in 1953. She loved pink and wore a famous pink dress to the inauguration, which made the color very popular. People started calling it 'Mamie pink'.

03In what way did some women start using the color pink to show they were not traditional?

Sample answerThey used it to challenge expectations. For example, the video mentions a female racecar driver who wore a pink uniform and drove a pink car, which was the opposite of a traditional woman's role.

04Why does the video mention Hillary Clinton wearing a pink jacket?

Sample answerIt shows how the meaning of pink has changed. She wore it while talking about being a powerful leader, which is the opposite of the traditional message that Mamie Eisenhower represented with the color.

4

Key vocabulary

Vocabulary

These expressions will help you communicate more naturally about historical and cultural trends.

Examples

To come into fashion — to become popular or stylish.

Use the opposite, 'to go out of fashion', when something is no longer popular. This phrase is great for talking about clothes, music, or ideas.

To catch on — to become popular or fashionable.

This is an informal phrasal verb. It's a natural way to say that an idea or style is spreading and being accepted by many people.

A sign of the times — something that is very typical of the culture or mood of a particular period.

This idiom is often used to comment on a new trend or behavior. For example, 'Everyone staring at their phones instead of talking is a sign of the times.'

To challenge stereotypes — to question or act against a widely held but oversimplified idea about a group of people.

A stereotype is a common but often untrue belief. We often talk about 'challenging gender stereotypes' or 'challenging cultural stereotypes'.

To have a major influence on (something) — to have a powerful effect on how something develops or how someone behaves.

This is a common phrase in both speaking and writing. You can also say someone had 'a big influence' or 'a significant influence'.

5

Decide if each statement is true or false. Correct the false ones.

01A magazine survey in 1927 found that all major stores associated the color pink with girls' clothing.

02Mamie Eisenhower's love for the color pink was a personal preference, not a political one.

03The song 'Think Pink' suggested that women should stop wearing colors like black and blue, which were common during the war.

04The video says that only traditional women, like Mamie Eisenhower, wore the color pink after the war.

05According to the video, pink became a popular color for home decoration around the same time it became popular for clothing.

6

Complete the sentences with words from the box. One word is extra.

Word bank

01The fact that men are now wearing colors like pink is a that old ideas about masculinity are changing.

02After the movie 'Funny Face', pink clothes for women came back into in a big way.

03It's interesting to see which historical trends and become popular again decades later.

04Associating colors with genders is an example of how cultural can change over time.

05Mamie Eisenhower had a major on what colors were popular for women in the 1950s.

7

Choose the best answer based on what you heard in the video.

01According to a 1918 catalogue mentioned in the video, why was blue suggested for little girls?

02According to the video, what was Mamie Eisenhower's personal reason for loving the color pink?

03The video mentions Donna Mae Mims as an example of a woman who...

04Which of the following is NOT mentioned in the video as a cultural reference related to the color pink?

8

Vocabulary: The History of Pink

Improve your vocabulary by matching words and phrases from the lesson with their definitions.

Match each item on the left with the correct item on the right.

A

B

9

Discuss these questions with a partner. Try to use vocabulary from the lesson.

The video explains how 'Mamie pink' came into fashion in the 1950s. Think about a color trend in your country that was a 'sign of the times'. When did this color catch on, and what did it represent?
Do you think one person can still have a major influence on a fashion trend today, like Mamie Eisenhower did, or is social media now more powerful?
Today, many people and brands are trying to challenge stereotypes about colors for boys and girls. Do you think this is important? Why or why not?