PINK MOOD BOARDS

Looking at the bright side of fashion vs the dark side we were grouped in to examining and drawing ideas from specific colours. After being given pink I was initially sceptical as I thought there wouldn't be that much exploration involved with pink as its such a cliché colour but I was wrong. We were tasked with producing two mood boards with an emphasis on a mixture of image selection, online research, tear sheets and use of our own photos.

COLOUR COURAGE

The first mood board was about loving the colour pink and the positive connotations associated with the colour. Words that inspired me to create this mood board were exciting, unique, innovative, unexpected and intriguing. I included images of lips which remind me of passion; love and intimacy, and lines of poetry by one of my favourite poets Rupi Kaur who speaks about love and heartbreak. I also added images of hollywood glamour and the breast cancer awareness symbol to acknowledge the strength and power of those who have overcome. I wanted the mood board to capture the idea of teenage fantasy and daydream.

COLOUR CONFORMITY

The second mood board was about being over the colour pink and the negative connotations to do with the colour. Words that inspired me in making this mood board were predictable, cliché, lazy, repetitive, damaging, tacky and weak. I wanted to portray the problems and prejudice against gender roles and social norms.

I also wrote out a snippet of one of my favourite quotes by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie; ‘We teach girls to shrink themselves; to make themselves smaller; we say to girls, "You can have ambition, but not too much; you should aim to be successful, but not too successful, otherwise you will threaten the man.” Because I am female, I am expected to aspire to marriage, I am expected to make my life choices always keeping in mind that marriage is the most important. Now marriage can be a source of joy and love and mutual support, but why do we teach girls to aspire to marriage and we don't teach boys the same? We raise girls to see each other as competitors not for jobs or for accomplishments which I think can be a good thing, but for the attention of men. We teach girls that they cannot be sexual beings in the way that boys are. Feminist: the person who believes in the social, political, and economic equality of the sexes’ which I think encapsulates how girls are oppressed and the association between the colour pink and girls only reinforces the stereotype that girls can’t be powerful.