☞ The colour pink was recognized as a concept in 800 B.C. in Homer’s Odyssey.

☞ The term was coined in the 17th century by a Greek botanist for the ruffled edges of carnations (flowers called pinks, members of the genus Dianthus)

☞ Madame de Pompadour, one of Louis XV’s lovers, liked the hue so much that the Sèvres porcelain company created and named a specific pink shade for her.

☞ The colour fuchsia was first introduced as the colour of a new aniline dye called fuchsine, patented in 1859 by the French chemist François-Emmanuel Verguin. The dye was renamed magenta later in the same year, to celebrate a victory of the French army at the Battle of Magenta on June 4, 1859, near the Italian city of that name.

☞ In the mid-18th century, pink was a fashionable colour among aristocrats symbolising class and luxury.

☞ In the mid-20th century, men started to wear darker colours to reflect their World War II service. Bright and pastel colours like pink were rebranded as feminine as part of a post-war effort to remove women from the workforce and re-establish their traditional homemaker roles.

☞ Former first lady Mamie Eisenhower loved the colour pink and had pink decor throughout the White House. When Mamie Eisenhower wore a pink dress as her inaugural gown at the US presidential inauguration of Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1953, it was thought to have been a key turning point in the association of pink as a ‘girl’s colour’. However, Mamie's strong liking of pink led to the public association of pink being a colour that "ladylike women wear."

☞ Elvis Presley had a pink 1955 Cadillac.

☞ The colour name cerise has been in use for this colour since 1993 by Crayola.

☞ Since the 1990s, pink has become more gender-neutral in Western culture.

John Wayne - man not afraid of a pink shirt. Silver Screen Collection Getty Images © Studio portrait, against light blue background circa 1970.