Generally speaking, we’re patient men. But lately we’ve noticed that the world has quite a few narrow-minded men who reckon that men shouldn’t wear pink, use fake tan, apply a hand cream or even take time to look after their skin simply because ‘that’s not what men do’. However, the question stands ‘Can men wear pink?’
Now, we don’t suspect that any Mankind customers are like this (you’re an enlightened bunch I know) but we have discovered, in our capacity as journalists who drops in on various style and grooming message boards, that the world has a lot more of these men who misunderstand. This week we have engaged in some fairly ferocious message board shenanigans with guys regarding the subject of ‘should men wear pink?’ Responses to this sartorial conundrum ranged from “nah, pink doesn’t suit men’s skin“ (do men have a different coloured skin than women then?) to the delightfully cryptic, “Pink is for men who like to cry while watching sitcoms and/or movies.”
Now, we’re not ashamed to say that we openly shed a tear when Mr Spock died in The Wrath of Khan and, if memory serves, we weren’t decked out in a pink fleece at the time so that theory’s out the window. Personally, we much prefer the insightfulness of the bloke who simply pointed out that “Pink is gay innit?”
Why Can’t Men Wear Pink?
All of this nonsense we can just about handle – people are entitled to their opinions after all – but what really gets my goat is the pathetic notion that men shouldn’t wear pink because “it’s just always been that way”. I mean, if the entire world operated on that this basis we’d have no health care system, there’d be no such thing as paternity leave and Doctor Who would still be populated by monsters made of egg boxes and spray-painted Bubblewrap. It’s called progress right?! It’s what drives mankind (forgive the pun) to better things.
Men who say guys shouldn’t wear pink (or moisturise or wax their backs) because that’s ‘not what men do’ aren’t being retrosexual, they’re just completely misunderstanding the point. If you think about it, twenty years ago men didn’t wear sunscreen that often – if at all. Protecting your skin against sun damage wasn’t ‘what men did’. Well, times have changed and we now know how crucial suncare is. Likewise, we know how moisturising daily can protect skin again long-term damage, wrinkling and dryness. Just because we didn’t do a thing doesn’t mean we can never do it.
But we digress. Our second gripe about the pink thing is…exactly who says men can’t wear pink? The last time we looked we didn’t actually have an established Fashion Police in this country… (okay, so there’s Gok Wan, but he’s far too busy policing bra crimes to care about male misdemeanours.) Nor, for that matter, do we have a Ministry of Masculinity yet (though it might be fun to see Mandy in charge of one if we did).
As far as we’re concerned you should wear whatever makes you feel good and whatever makes you look good – and to hell with what other people think. As one guy correctly observed, a pink shirt actually looks great with a blue suit and women love it on a man. In fact, pink is one of the biggest selling colours these days for basic men’s gear like polo shirts. You see it on everyone from city boys to inner city chavs. And we like it when it’s used to highlight an outfit (cufflinks look great with a crisp white shirt cool for example).
Enlightened men know pink looks great. So don’t limit yourself in what you wear for fear of how other people might perceive you. After all, if you’re confident in who you are and in your own sense of masculinity you wouldn’t be remotely afraid of wearing pink. Are we right?
If you do happen to be one of our enlightened readers, we’re sure you’ll appreciate a healthy grooming regime. Why not add to it with some of our top picks to take it to the next level?
