Re: IML: In Defense of Pink, and Purple

["Bill Watson" <wwatson5@xxxxxxxxx>]

Never heard of "Mimi Eisenhower Pink", not that means much, nor that the
wife of President Dwight D. "Ike" Eisenhower (who was "Mamie", by the way,
and not "Mimi").had any influence on colours.

Ike was elected in 1952 and pastel colours did not becone the rage until the
1956 model year.   And pink was not the only 'new' colour in the pallette as
pale greens, blues, turquoise, copper hues, light tans and golds etc., all
became the rage along with two and three tone paint schemes..   These new
colours also swept into the home as well.  My mother around 1957 decided to
do the livingroom and diningroom in a pale coral colour.   Of  course it was
repainted a few years later when pastel colours became passé

And the trend affected women's fashions as deep red lipstick and nail polish
were replaced by lighter shades and hues.  Colours and women's hemlines are
usually gauges of how the economy is going.   People are feeling better in a
booming economy and thus colours become brighter and fashion less somber.
In 1950-51 the colours were predominantly dark hues with women's hemlines
well below the knee and men wearing baggy, double-breasted suits and block
hats.   Under Eisenhower the country's economy boomed with sales of all
consumer goods rising.  Thus when the peak hit around 1956-57, colours were
bright and cheerful, hemlines were just below the kneecap and men wore
tighter fitting suits with lighter, more streamlined hats.  In 1956 Lee Hats
compared the slender brim of their new model that dipped slightly at the
front and rose at the rear.  They called the hat "Flight Sweep" and compared
it to the styling of the new Chrysler products.

Twenty years earlier, in the depression, car colours were dark and women's
hemlines were just high enough to see the ankle.   Seems ironic, really,
that clothes in bad times use more material than in good times.

Bill
Vancouver, BC



----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Eric" <gearhead@xxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <mailing-list@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Saturday, August 26, 2006 12:13 PM
Subject: Re: IML: In Defense of Pink, and Purple


> A few things come to mind about pink cars in the 50's. Foremost, the
current
> 1st Lady of the times was to have loved the color pink. Soon, an official
> "Mimi Eisenhower Pink" had spread the nation. Ok, so I hadn't even been
born
> yet, but this is how I remember mom telling me the story describing
> something she saw that was pink,
>
> "in that gawd-awful Mimi Eisenhower Pink"
>
> Weather Mimi was crazy for pink is true or it was some corporation's
> marketing scheme, there was a lot of pink stuff by the time of my arrival
to
> this world in 1961. Infact, I just purchased a 1961 Frigidaire Custom
> Imperial Flair range that was finished in appliance pink, as was
everything
> else in this 1961 built kitchen it came out of.
>
> Women were taking to the roads with the newly introduced power steering &
> brakes and clutchless driving. Enter all sorts of effeminate design
themes:
> the Dodge LaFemme,  pastel paints, delicate appearing nylon fabrics in
cars,
> etc, all things to make driving a comfort or visually appealing.
>
> I remember by the time I was about 6 or so, I looked at my neighbor's
> purple, black and white '55 Dodge as being unusual as there weren't many
> other purple cars around. Well, what goes around comes around and by 1999,
> 1955 purple was the rage again. Maybe there was a more secure sense in the
> nation about having a pink car in the driveway, but not all people enjoyed
> the fresh break of lighter pastels from the dreary war era maroons and
olive
> drabs. My uncle used to cuss at the banana yellow '60 Olds he had to ride
in
> when he was a youngster.
>
> So, to pink Imperial owners, I'll go out on a limb and say that you have a
> Presidential sense of color, no matter how it annoys my dear ol' ma.  :-).
>
> Eric
> Portland, Oregon
>
>



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