Take the pledge

50s Pam on Jul 05 2008 | Filed under: pink bathrooms

Save the Pink Bathrooms
Our goal: A gazillion people pledged to preserve vintage pink bathrooms.
Maybe you have a pink bathroom. Or you just love them. All are welcome.
Your Comment is your Pledge, and while you’re there, share your pink reveries.

Flickr: Save the Pink Bathrooms Group

50s Pam on Jul 05 2008 | Filed under: pink bathrooms

Add your photo to our Flickr group: Save the Pink Bathrooms

Tags: pink bathrooms

Pink Possession

50s Pam on Jul 04 2008 | Filed under: pink bathrooms

In her comment, g left an amazing passage from A.S. Byatt’s novel Possession - all about a pink bathrooms. Gave me an excuse to make a Wordle, which I’ve been wanting to do.

Click through for the complete passage:
Continue Reading »

If you are a blogger - another way you can help

50s Pam on Jul 04 2008 | Filed under: Uncategorized

If you are a blogger, you can also help by putting this link in your sidebar. It will let others know about our campaign, and get them to pledge. Copy this embed code into a text widget to post. It’s 175 pixels wide. Many thanks!

EMBED CODE:

Mamie Eisenhower: Unwitting creator of THE iconic color of the 50s, “Mamie Pink”

50s Pam on Jul 04 2008 | Filed under: Uncategorized

This post originally ran on RetroRenovation.com in March 2008 — leading a 5-day segment featuring 61 Mamie Pink vintage kitchens.

“Mamie Pink.” The iconic decorating color of the 50s, arguably. Ubiquitous in fashion as well as 50s bathrooms and kitchens, of course!

The mid-century trend to pink seems to have come directly and irrefutably from Mamie Eisenhower, first lady from 1953 to 1961. Pink was Mamie’s favorite color. She wore a pink gown with 2,000 pink rhinestones to Ike’s inauguration. Ike sent her pink flowers every morning. Her bathroom in Gettysburg was pink down to the cotton balls. She re-decorated the private quarters in the White House in pink. So much so that reporters called it the “Pink Palace.” The color also seems to have been known as “First Lady Pink.” As a result of all this pink-think, there was probably no question that American women (and marketers) would pick up on it. It also was a color trend right in line with the exuberance of the time — and even supportive of the return of women to the home after WWII and their complete remaking of the American domestic landscape.

In fact, my own informal research from scouring marketing materials from the period indicates that pink kitchens and baths arrived solidly in ‘53, reached a total frenzy in 1957, then pretty rapidly started to fade after that, as other trends took hold. A typical adoption curve for a trend like this.

Tags: Mamie Eisenhower, pink kitchens, Retro kitchen