Men in pink

QX179R SG

Walking down Orchard Road, you are sure to see loads of people dressed in various shades of pink.

Dark pink, hot pink, deep pink, even baby pink.

Traditionally this mix of white and red has always been associated with the fairer sex.

When one thinks of this colour, one often gets connotations of love, flowers, barbie dolls and perhaps even the Financial Times.

Women and girls have been wearing and loving this colour for years.

It is quite a recent phenomenon that some men seem to adore this colour so much!

Sometimes even more than their female companions!

The newsdesk with more details....

Guys and pink has turned into what may be seen as almost an obsession, with some guys having pink shirts, pink pants and even pink cars.

Now, you must ask yourself, why are men so attracted to the colour nowadays??

What is it about the colour that is so appealing to them?

Various explanations have been offered.

Some say that it has a very calming effect that men are only starting to appreciate.

Others think that it's because it's easy to match pink with the other colours in a man's wardrobe.

And of course, the classic answer, pink makes men feel confident while still allowing them to remain sensitive.

Modern man has reached a point where he no longer feels his clothes must reflect his masculinity.

Of course, we wanted a feel for what local men thought of this trend.

Stanley Leong, a local DJ voiced his regret that the colour has now been negatively tinted by being associated with particular groups of people.

"I think the colour has been unfortunately associated with certain groups, demographic groups in society. So that's quite a pity that there is that relationship tied in with the colour. But i don't see why that should be something that will determine what colours can or cannot be worn by guys not in the group."

Timothy Soo, another student, echoed Stanley's sentiment, but also expressed some reservations about why guys might not want to wear pink.

"I think they're fine. Like i wouldn't think they are sissy or anything. And besides, i think if you've a good build then pink clothes do look quite good on a guy. General perception is that people who wear pink clothes are gay so i don't want to be misunderstood so ya."

Certainly the man on the street agrees that men can and should wear pink.

Retailers in the local fashion scene have also noticed this trend.

Many are now carrying pink jackets, shirts and hoodies to cater to guys who like the colour.

Some like Abby, a sales assistant, have noticed that some guys are actually quite hesitant about even trying the colour, but are eventually persuaded to by their friends.

"Well, they try on everything then they see which one they suit better. obviously there are some friends, "Eh, can you try on the pink one?" Ya, they will try and some of them really buy pink."

Contrary to popular belief, it is not only the younger men that are loving and wearing pink.

Audrey, whose Dad is in his mid forties and likes the colour, shares her views on this trend.

But I know my dad likes pink also, I guess there is a very wide range of ages who like pink. As in, I never knew my dad's favourite colour was pink until quite a while back when I realized he had quite a lot of pink tops. And then I asked him about it and he said that he likes wearing pink because it was quite a bright and cheerful colour. I thought that was nice cause my favourite colour is like pink also. But, people tend to have some sort of bias against pink because there are certain associations and stereotypes about pink like when girls are overly pink they are bimbos. But as times with this new trend of pink they are out to change the mindset - why do you have to label people who wear pink? People like wearing pink why do you have to judge them for wearing a certain colour? I mean, a colour is just a colour right?"

This sort of stereotyping is something that is happening more and more in our modern world.

Nowadays, even various colours can be associated with different groups on people in society.

Many people also agree that this trend of men wearing pink is something that will not stay but is just a passing fad.

While Audrey agrees with this, she provides an interesting exception to this rule.

"I would think that it's just a passing fad but it would stay with certain people. Like you know that some guys might wear it cause they think it's the new in thing but as they let themselves conform to this trend they might find themselves actually liking it? They'll be like okay why not. You know even as it passes and people move on to different colours or different patterns or prints. They'll be like okay since I'm comfortable with this colour now and I don't think it's gay then why not?"

We know that some guys might still not be convinced so we spoke to local celebrity fashion stylist, Karen Ng for her take on the debate

Karen who has significant exposure to the fashion scenes in London, New York and Paris, says that pink goes well with asian skin, and men that wear the colour are brave!

"Pink you know, it looks good, pink looks good on asian skin i would encourage that pink is uh is different you know a lot of men regard it as uh very feminine but it's not it's cool and uh especially if you wear a nice pink shirt with a nice black suit or maybe even in a dark suit it shows they're courageous i mean on the contrary you know a lot of people would've think that oh so it's soft colour it's for women but i personally think it's um it's courageous you know to put on pink red you know the women's colour so it's a good sign. Oh it must be from overseas designers like lanvin you know that does menswear and (something) all the light colours so it's overseas you know from the designers i suppose you know all these designers are producing all these collections of the you know lighter colours so that brings out the trend in mens fashion and yeah i think that's brillant."

So guys out there, be comfortable with whatever strikes your fancy! Be assured of your masculinity no matter what colour you wear.

Cause after all, if girls can wear blue, why can't guys wear pink??

--938Live