The pink used to be for boys notion

Loose dresses contribute to the easy and vigorous exercise of the faculties of the mind. This remark is so obvious, and so generally known, that we find studious men are always painted in gowns, when they are seated in their libraries

Voltaire - see the painting of him in that style of dress on the cover of Penguin Classics issue of Candide

I love this dress and shoes. I'd be so happy wearing that to a fancy dress party or a ball. Stuff gender neutral clothing

I like this quote, from the 1780s:

Loose dresses contribute to the easy and vigorous exercise of the faculties of the mind. This remark is so obvious, and so generally known, that we find studious men are always painted in gowns, when they are seated in their libraries.

~en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banyan_(clothing)

Queen - most 7 year olds would have been toilet trained for many years though?

Maybe all those babies who undo their poppers on their babygros "to make them into dresses" actually identify with being born in 1912, not "having been born into the wrong body"?

This is my Dad, aged 2.5, taken in 1912, exactly 100 years before he died. He was 'breeched' (put into trousers) at the age of 5. His frock was white and the velvet coat was dark green.

I think boys wearing dresses would have been because of toilet training and lack of washing machines. Also makes economic sense from having a wardrobe that all your children could wear.

We have a photo from the 1920s of my grandad aged about 7 wearing a dress. I remember him telling us that all little boys back then (where he lived, anyway) wore dresses until they were 7/8, then they moved onto shorts. He thought it might be something to do with having clothes that any child could wear, and considering the high rates of infant mortality I guess it would make sense to have unisex clothing for as long as possible.

(The picture is black and white, though, so I don't know whether the dress was pink)

I was born in the late 1960s and grew up in the 1970s and '80s when little girls rarely wore pink. Yes, little babies were colour coded pale pink or pale blue (but always safe to check as clothes were handed down from baby to baby), but from toddlerhood onwards, children wore a variety of colours.

The phenomenon of a sea of pink in shops selling clothes for children, along with pink plastic shite marketed for girls is, I don't know, maybe 20-25 years old?

Gender markers and capitalism are intertwined.

Blue pigment was the most expensive to produce so became a sign of wealth and power. Depictions of the Virgin Mary from 400 AD showed her in blue in keeping with her being shown as queen of heaven

Guardian have an interesting article on the colour blue which mentions the depiction of Mary:

www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2015/apr/17/colour-blue-rich-divine-ancient-egyptians-virgin-mary

blogs.discovermagazine.com/neuroskeptic/2012/11/30/did-boys-use-to-wear-pink/#.WZ8lKviGPcs

blogs.discovermagazine.com/neuroskeptic/2017/07/02/boys-wear-pink-revisited/#.WZ8lV_iGPcs

link.springer.com/epdf/10.1007/s10508-012-0002-z?shared_access_token=qS39JxfGvQEc5QirnAlnjfe4RwlQNchNByi7wbcMAY6_ErQX7nPBm2KihNH7C_cxkO916d1VxaCcH3A57rp0KfFzjeWkffHNquW8fF97Pp2kwwIOPpfvcFxF_F_GetuUy-H4Bb8jlPns_hnCU2sda_nUU51t4J8QNpZI-MNfB1I=

Looks like it is a bit of a myth. In Ye Olde Days, there does not seem to have been any consistent rule either way.

Fair enough, maybe I misunderstood. I think your sentiment that it was gender neutral was right, and the people saying it was a masculine colour are definitely wrong as the wikipedia article also proves.

I understood that in the past the colour blue was heavily associated with the Virgin Mary and therefore seen as a feminine colour.
Pre 20th century the colour pink wasn't a colour per se it was categorised as a light red. Red was seen as a military colour, hence light red being seen as the more masculine colour

There was a really interesting book serialised on Radio 4 recently all about history of colour. Sorry. Can't remember what's it's called but sure s search will find it. Anyway, yes, blue was for girls and red and pink was for boys 300 years ago. Changed about 150 years ago,

From: www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/when-did-girls-start-wearing-pink

"For example, a June 1918 article from the trade publication Earnshaw's Infants' Department said, “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.”

I don't know why people get their knickers in a twist over pink so much.

Of the four people in this house, DH wears the most pale pink. He has several work shirts in that colour and really suits it.

Gosh - someone on the internet is wrong!

Just because they're making a wrong citation, it doesn't follow that the proper evidence does not exist.

here is a good article

www.todayifoundout.com/index.php/2014/10/pink-used-common-color-boys-blue-girls/

In 1927, Time magazine printed a chart highlighting gender-appropriate colors for girls and boys according to leading U.S. retailers. Filene’s (in Boston), Best & Co. (in New York City), Halle’s (in Cleveland), and Marshall Field (in Chicago) all advised parents to dress boys in pink and girls in blue.

Here's another

I am having problems posting pix. Hope it works this time!

Stop looking at paintings for your evidence and actually read the facts here:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pink#The_19th_century

Further example -formal portrait of Charles I and family

Father in black, mother in blue (colour of Maryan virtuous motherhood), eldest boy in pink, girls in yellow, infants in white.