What's wrong with blue clothes for girls?

[StormGlass]

I was out shopping today, and while in Boots, stopped to look at the baby clothes to see if there was anything I liked for DS.

A couple came along, with a baby girl in a pushchair, and started looking at the clothes too. The dad picked up a white sundress with a pattern of blue birds on it, and said "How about this for [popular girls name]?" The mum took one look, and said "No, it's got blue on it"

I found that a little depressing. Why can't a little girl have a sundress with blue on it? Surely no-one's going to think she's a boy, given that it's a dress, just because it's got blue birds on it?

I find this obsession with colour coded baby clothes very annoying.

[marriedinwhite]

My mother said I was too plain to wear pink. It's my favourite colour and when I was 28ish I had a pink kitchen installed in my house. It went beautifully with the pink carpets and curtains and the pink and green sofas . Oddly my mother was horrified when I put dd in her older brother's dungarees and bought a few pink t shirts and socks to go with them.

I let dd wear as much pink and purple as she wanted as a child though and her bedroom is litterally like looking into a bag of marshmallows. She's rather off pink now though and is trying to be a bit "goth"

[StormGlass]

Agree, it's much more acceptable for girls to wear blue than it is for boys to wear pink.

DH is a grown man, and reacts with horror at the thought of wearing a pink shirt or tie. Apparently people might think he's gay
He's being completely ridiculous in any number of ways, but there's no reasoning with him when it comes to pink clothes for men.

[leguminous]

When we went to get D's first pair of proper shoes, there were some dinosaur trainers we liked and I asked if she could try them on. The assistant didn't want to give them to me because they were boy's ones. I had to insist.

Pretty sure there's no huge difference between the feet of male and female toddlers.

Good point, blonder - I'm anticipating a lot more drama if our next child is a boy and we put him in our daughter's hand-me-downs. A lot of her baby stuff was from the boy's section anyway, as the colours on that side of the aisle weren't quite so anaemically washed out, but more than half her clothes now are clearly meant to convey that she's a girl. I find myself holding back from the idea of putting a future son in her flowery pintucked tops, even though I passionately believe he should wear them if he wants to - mostly because I don't like the thought of him looking back at baby photos and being uncomfortable. :( Fucked up all round.

[greenhill]

Slight side track here but my MIL said she was going to buy DS woolly tights for winter, because my DH had worn them. I guffawed first, then politely said that if she could find some for him, I would put them on him. She was surprised to discover they had gone out of fashion since the 70's.

One of my uncle's was dressed in silk dresses and tights until he went to school. He was the fourth boy. His brothers used to say that their DM had wanted a girl to taunt him. He is only 10 years older than me.

My DS wears pink, orange, purple etc and has long hair. He is often mistaken for a girl. My DB, some male cousins and nephews all have long hair. Maybe it is a regional thing. My parents have wrung their hands about their grandsons hair many times. Especially when tied back with a ribbon or a scrunchie at home as they are teenagers!

[Ilovemydogandmydoglovesme]

Loads of men wear pink shirts, salmon pink with a nice pair of cords and a tweed jacket seems to be de rigeur for chaos round here.

[AnnaBanananana]

someone needs to tell my DH what a raving lesbian I am! I own no pink clothes but quite a few blue dresses!

I've had someone I know take a toy out of DS's hands because it was pink and go and find him something blue - that same woman was totally baffled by what to do when he later found a toy with both blue AND pink on it! really it stopped her in her tracks!

[Ilovemydogandmydoglovesme]

Chaps obviously. Blardy iPhone.

[greenhill]

My DD is particularly attached to some Thomas the Tank Engine tops and I will be able to pass them onto my DS easily. She robustly argued that they weren't her brothers' clothes when a girl asked about them in the park. I also got her Postman Pat, Bob the Builder and Thomas pyjamas a few years ago. The pink comments have only started since school, but she wears these things at home happily.

[StormGlass]

Ilovemydog, lots of chaps wear pink shirts round here too.

I work with a number of very masculine, rugby playing men who regularly wear pink shirts whilst walking around in a cloud of testosterone, but this does not change DH's opinion. (my colleagues play rugby in their spare time. I do not work at a rugby club)

[blackcurrants]

I grew up amongst a lot of retired army officery, public-school-boyish, rugger types who wear pink shirts a lot. Pink was totally alright for men (in a tweedy sort of way) when I was a child. And it was (just) pre-Disney-princess mania, too - so I dodged that one.

When I was pregnant with DS1 and we decided not to find out the gender some (dim) acquaintances were genuinely scandalised: "How will people know what to buy?" ... honestly. We bought lovely things in yellow and green and red and any colours we could find that weren't pastel pink or blue. DS looked lovely in a hot pink sleeper, as I recall.

Now he's bigger it's really hard to find nice clothes for him. I buy dresses for my many nieces, too, so I've also seen how hard it is to get non-pink tat for them. As is an Auntie's privilege I tend to get them stuff on sale from slightly posher shops, as xmas presents or the like, and I've noticed that Hanna Anderson, Polarn O Pyraet and other expensive places do good non-pink stuff.

I have friends who work hard to get non-pink things for their daughters - gleefully announcing on fb "Great red and green dresses at H&M" or whatever. When shopping for my son I find the dreary slurry of dark colours and camo shite is sooo depressing. It's not like they looked at the colour wheel and said "okay, anything but pink is fine for little boys!" - anything bright, pattered (other than plaid or camo) or even 'properly fitted' is deemed too effeminate by most of the shops I can afford. And trousers must only be khaki, navy, or denim, apparently. Unless you want camo. Urhghgh.

[JessePinkman]

I bought all my dc start-rite Jo shoes. In navy.www.startriteshoes.com/girls/jo

Same as Prince William had when he was little, got more eyebrows raised for my son.
They are the best shoes for little toddlers.

[JessePinkman]

Makes me wish I had a little one to dress again, now they all chose their own clothes. I loved it when they were small.

[blonderthanred]

Men wearing tailored pink shirts in certain social contexts is one thing, buying from the 'girls' rail for little boys is quite another.

T-shirts with pink and purple butterflies on? Pink babygros? Ime even a white vest with a tiny pink logo would be seen as beyond the pale.

[plutocrap]

I put DS in tights because of his inability to keep socks on ( though that's not an issue now with DD), and he had some gorgeous, warm-looking colours in his first couple of winters, including plum, dark pink, brown and purple

Now he's adamantthat his favourite colour is dark blue and he wnts me to like pink and wear skirts . I'm a bit upset that I've somehow raised a gender fascist!