Millennial pinK
Our colour for Issue 6, Millennial Pink, was selected and saved in Bianca’s mind long before Pantone discovered it last year. Perhaps every issue has really been warming us up, anticipating the individuality and uniqueness of this pink, that some seem to interpret as reaaaaally encapsulating us millennials.
Blobs of it in spiced lattes and brightly dyed lettuce leaves seem to be slowly filling our discovery pages on Instagram, with some even labelling it a ‘Pink Renaissance.’
… Is it? Named colour of the year for 2017, it hasn’t just been permeating wacky experimental food markets. The colour is everywhere- and for good reason.
Its day of trend has fallen at a time of heated debate surrounding the LGBT community, feminism and Time’s Up. Long associated with femininity, brands (such as pinkcpt. featured in this issue) have been using it to tackle these old spouted stereotypes, often pushing the colour onto unisex clothes and products within the market.
Are we distancing ourselves from the traditional male gaze?? We hadn't thought about how directly this could be applied within the arts world until reading Alex Sy-Quia's words that accompany his photography feature in this issue. Inverting "heteronormative dynamics in photography," where the model controls the positioning as opposed to the photographer, was an interesting take on the gender-confusions associated with this colour.
We were also unsure about the use of the word millennial to depict this shade. Does this simple pinky shade hint at some of the major issues our generation face? Is it successful? Is it irrelevant? Is it- poking?? Even after reading and sifting through the works from this issue, we’re still a little unsure.
We still don’t think it can be labelled a renaissance. It’s far too unique in the ideas and fashions it’s associated with.
Perhaps this isn’t pinks renaissance; maybe, in fact, it’s a birth.
Some sources:
F & B
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