Why bright pink will be dominating your wardrobe this year

My shopping list has a bit of an Elle Woods hangover right now. I have my eyes on a fuchsia blouse from Malie and a bubblegum pink co-ord set from Donnée Par Dieu while the hunt for the perfect hot pink pantsuit continues. An oversized cerise shirt is set to arrive from H&M (shame that the matching trousers were sold out), and my Zara cart is a grazing platter of everything they had in the highlighter hue.

Welcome to 2021, where any woman worth her taffy trousers isn’t waiting until Wednesday to wear the various iterations of this saccharine shade. Think of it as peak joy dressing. After more than a year in neutral and pared-down loungewear, we are ready for a change. Ready to channel our inner Villanelle, floating around the apartment in frothy Molly Goddard dresses and colour blocking pinks to pen postcards at a curbside European café. From bright to Barbie and bubble gum, pink truly is the colour of not just the season, but the year. The post-lockdown pink isn’t mild or millennial anymore. We’ve retired demure blush and rosé for more audacious tones. We want powerful and punchy over pale. We want all eyes on us. Need proof? Global search platform Lyst reported that searches for ‘bright pink’ have been growing steadily this year, increasing by more than 80 per cent since early February.

The mood is Lady-Gaga-at-the-Met-Gala level Camp (coincidentally the fashion icon wore an electric pink Brandon Maxwell gown with a cascading trail for the event in question back in 2019). Be it a red carpet, runway, political campaign or a good ol’ errand run; statement pinks—preferably worn from head-to-toe—are on the front row and forefront alike. Jacquemus dedicated an entire Christmas capsule collection to the colour. Deep pink was a prominent part of Bodice’s finale show, otherwise partial to a monochrome palette, at the FDCI x Lakmé Fashion Week this year. Alicia Keys wore a custom Valentino in the colour for the Billboard Music Awards, all of Dua Lipa’s four outfits at the Grammys this year were sparkly pink, and Colman Domingo wore a jolly pink Versace pantsuit to the Oscars. Sonam Kapoor Ahuja chose a luxe Persian pink sweat suit from Ralph & Russo as she logged into their virtual fashion show, the very colour and style also seen on Tara Sutaria for a casual outing. Pink and its various avatars is one that American politician Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez doesn’t shy away from either. It was also the colour workwear brand Argent championed for their #AmbitionSuitsYou campaign to encourage American women to vote during the elections last year, which saw the likes of Mandy Moore, Kerry Washington, Amy Schumer and Sophia Bush among others in hot pink pantsuits.

Pink’s present-day makeover has allowed it to shed its limiting association with the girly-girl trope. It’s no longer a cliché to depict the proverbial blonde who is a caricature of her own self. Pink today means business, but without being strait-laced or serious. It’s feel-good. Fun. Mood lifting. It’s your license to shed any sartorial inhibitions and live a little. It’s the colour of the woman who is unapologetic about her femininity. She doesn’t feel the need to wear it with excuses or compensate for it. It’s almost like a dare to box her into some pre-conceived category, so that she can prove you wrong. Audrey Hepburn may have first declared ‘I believe in pink’, but in 2021, we’re all card carrying members of the club. And we wouldn’t have it any other way.

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