Joan Mitchell’s Pink

Fashion x Art Edit #14

A few weeks back, I visited the Fondation Louis Vuitton and was mesmerized by the retrospective linking Joan Mitchell’s and Claude Monet’s work.

While Joan Mitchell strongly defended herself from having been inspired by the Impressionist master (often considered the father of Abstract Expressionism to which Mitchell belonged), the exhibition shows their common grounds, including their interest in nature and representing “feelings” or emotions on the canvas.

At the same period, I was reflecting on the color pink and the evolution of its social and societal attributes. For example, it used to be a color associated with men, most likely because the English military was wearing red coats and pink was a lighter red used to dress toddlers.

Additionally, pink is a color scarcely found in nature yet featured in many artworks representing or being inspired by nature, from Monet’s Nympheas to Mitchell’s La Vie en Rose (Estate of Joan Mitchell) featured here.

Pink is probably among the most divisive colors out there, but it is also among the most versatile, and its range allows for the expression of the full spectrum of feelings and gender. Here, I got inspired by its expressivity and my personal interpretation of its evolving message.

Quite fittingly, I recently got asked about men’s fashion, which I am distantly following… Therefore, I started with a men’s sweater, browsed the (oh so limited!) men’s options and ended with pearly earrings in the women’s sections. But along the way, every piece questioned my understanding of gender identity… Tdlr: do we still need to separate women’s and men’s options?