Interiors by Design: In the pink

My friend Debbie insists that Valentine’s Day is all about red. The red of the fiery heart, passion pumping in the veins, the active fever of burning love, Scarlett’s velvet gown awash with wanton forbidden lust. Many men would like to meet my friend, Debbie.

But for me, growing up in Kansas—despite the glitter of the ruby red slippers which might have gotten me to East Hampton by a different mode of transportation—Valentine’s Day always had connotations of the color pink.

Perhaps it was Joyce Hall, the founder of Hallmark Cards in Kansas City, who single-handedly seems to have created both the phenomenon of Valentine’s Day (as well as Mother’s Day), and the greeting card industry itself. Mr. Hall insisted that his Valentine’s Day cards be slathered in pink.

Or perhaps it was those tiny pink candy hearts with suggestive and sometimes obtuse but mostly sugary bon mots that influenced my visual opinion of Valentine’s Day. Whatever the reason, on Valentine’s Day I see pink.

I will continue to count my association with pink as positive, as apparently in ye olde English tradition, if you’re in the pink, you’re healthy, prosperous, and feelin’ good about life in general.

The word “pink” referring to a color was first to be found in the late 1600s. The word at that time meant the color of small carnation-like flowers of the dianthus genus, which have historically been called “pinks.”

Despite the fact that current culture assigns the feminine gender to this color, from the 1920s to the 1940s pink as related to red was considered entirely appropriate for boys. At that time, it was a definite active masculine color.

Conversely, blue historically represented the Virgin Mary as applied to her cloak in paintings and sculpture and was prescribed the domain of girls. Blue was thus considered a dainty delicate hue until the eve of World War II when, I suppose, khaki obliterated just about everything.

Some interesting tidbits about the color pink: Madame Ritz insisted that all her luxury hotel’s lamp shades be lined in pink to flatter women’s faces and romanticize her hotel’s already sumptuously decadent atmosphere; Elsa Schiaparelli dubbed her own shade of pink so eye shattering that it was considered “shocking”; and Diana Vreeland—who once requested Billy Baldwin to create for her an

apartment that resembled a “garden in Hell”—dubbed pink “the navy blue of India.”

In the 1950s, pink was everywhere, from poodle skirts, refrigerators, typewriters and dress shirts to toilet paper, and even automobiles. Who could forget the 1957 pink Cadillac, immortalized later both in song and as a fizzy cocktail?

The 1960s saw the hallucinogenic revival of pink in clothing, posters and all forms of head shop paraphernalia. The Walt Disney film, “Fantasia” was the Holy Grail for acid-dropping potheads who lapped up the pink visual of elephants dancing en pointe in diaphanous tutus.

Moving on to the next decade, the 1970s saw pink in super graphics and all manner of explosive accessories.

The super-hot 1980s Americanized English Country house look could not have existed without the pink and green of floral chintzes. Waspdom’s Lilly Pulitzer revived the summer dress, pink and green and Palm Beach style. Boca Raton fought back with its own combination of pink and turquoise, synonymous with fresh condos and a touch of glitz.

Once again, pink has received standout status in this decade. In 2001 “Women’s Wear Daily” claimed a 50-year anniversary revival of pink, denoting it “the color of spring.” The color once again was hot and the highly sought after pink Vespa was all the rage, along with Dolce and Gabbana’s alligator pumps and purses.

Pink is decidedly everywhere and here to stay.

Where would Bermuda’s waters be without their lining of pink sand? And how boring Bermuda’s hills would be without the standouts of pink stucco cottages silhouetted against the turquoise water?

Artist Christo, of the Central Park Gates fame, wrapped the jungle green islands of Miami’s Biscayne Bay in 6,500,000 square feet of pink fabric, forming a brilliant counterpoint to the vibrant green island and the surrounding azure water.

Even the President of Argentina rules his country from a famous Pink House. And East Hampton had for many years a wonderful pink house gracing the edge of its Currier and Ives-like pond.

Hotels in Florida, and most famously Hawaii, find the color pink a means of distinguishing themselves from hoi polloi. In those warmer climes, the color pink is utilized to elegantly welcome the weary, well-to-do traveler.

Believe it or not, pink is even used in sports, though perhaps with less positive intentions. According to Reebok fitness guru Greg Gurenlian, the University of Iowa’s Hawkeyes have painted the opposing team’s locker room pink both as an insult and a bad luck spell. Mr. Gurenlian, a Penn State fan, says his team has lost three times to the Hawkeyes and considers the locker room pink a contribution to Penn’s problematic losses.

Red mixed with white produces pink, a color which denotes most often innocence, playfulness, the flush of femininity, sweetness, child-like charm and to be sure, the soft side of romance. Images of cotton candy, the puff of a twilight cloud, the inside of a conch shell, the nose of a kitten, the blush of a damask rose and the tenderness of a baby’s skin all come to mind.

In its intense opposition, pink can conjure up nausea (Pepto Bismol pink), sleaze (hot pink) and tawdry cheapness (bubblegum pink).

To quote an online color interpreter, if pink is your favorite color, you are “kind and compassionate, ever willing to help a distressed soul ... You like the luxuries in life, satin sheets and exotic cuisine are more your style. An excess of this may get you preoccupied with the transient pleasures of life. You’re an incurable romantic who loves happy endings. Though most others tend to associate pink with timidity, people who love the color have a subdued drive and usually achieve their goals.” So there.

In this, our politicized era, one can never forget pinko commie rats, or pink diaper babies, those leftist-leaners. But pink has also become a power color for women in the battle against breast cancer, for feminists issues and for the gay movement.

Drawing our circle back to the world of interior design, pink is softly making its reappearance in the world of textiles. Rogers and Goffigon has introduced the hue in sandy pink linens, beigey powder pink chenilles, and whispered pink cottons. Known for their subtle but infinitely elegant take on color, Rogers and Goffigon nudges designers to explore this highly refined world of pink, reminiscent of 18th century royal France.

Nothing can be more evocative than a room painted a flat dusted pink with pale poured cream woodwork. Spiced with rich nutmeg tone, the room can become a surprising success.

Pink captures a chic spirit when combined with charcoal and white. Follow the fashion industry’s lead and look for pink with navy—a bravura combo. Exoticize your room (carefully) with pink, saffron and blue—a mixture so far winningly achieved in more foreign locales than here on the East End.

For those who fear pink’s dominance or connotation, use it in a temporal manner such as napkins at lunch, flowers in a guest room, for gift-wrapping, or key tassels on a bureau. Pink usually induces a smile and a warm reaction.

And who knows, maybe a budding romance? I wish you a wonderful Valentine’s Day and may you always be “in the pink.”

Marshall Watson

is a nationally recognized interior and furniture designer who lives and works in the Hamptons and New York City. Reach him at 105 West 72nd Street, Suite 9B, New York, NY 10023.