We all know that our society creates ideas about gender, and that what we consider masculine or feminine today are transitive concepts. So it goes with how culture has treated babies’ and children’s clothing. This picture of a young Franklin Delano Roosevelt taken in 1884 is a case in point: he is wearing a white dress and has dainty shoes and long hair, but all this was typical for his time.
In Western tradition, until the mid-19th century people under six wore white dresses — the white bleached well, and diaper-wearing children could be changed more easily. Then pastel colors became fashionable — and yet, it took a while before they were indicators of gender. Thus, in the first part of the 20th century, blue might be suggested for blond hair and pink for brown eyes.
But distinguishing boys from girls did start to become a trend at this time. Initially, pink was more frequently considered a boy’s color. You can see the second photo dating from 1920 with “Baby Bobby” paper doll and his pink onesie outfit. That aligns with what many clothing manufacturers and sellers promoted. I like this quote from the June 1918 issue of _Earnshaw’s Infants Deparment_, which states:.
“The generally accepted rule is pink for the boys, and blue for the girls. The reason is that pink, being a more decided and stronger color, is more suitable for the boy, while blue, which is more delicate and dainty, is prettier for the girl”.
The rest of the 20th century saw more flip-flopping. By the 1940s the current notion of pink for girls, and blue for boys had settled in, but it was rejected for more gender-neutral colors for girls during the feminist movent of the 1970s.
It was around 1985 that the color divide once again became prominent, as it still is today, and a big reason is because we have been manipulated by corporate interests. By 1985 pre-natal gender testing became available, and you could shop ahead of time for the baby with gender-specific clothing. The advertising industry had figured out that individuating clothing choices made customers buy more.
Source(s): Research from Jo B. Paoletti, _Pink and Blue: Telling the Girls from the Boys in America, 2011, cited in Smithsonian Magazine, April 7, 2011, Jeanne Maglaty. Also, _Vintage News_ Khadija Bilal, “Here’s why it all changes: pink used to be a boy’s color and blue for girls”
