Notes from the Field: Think Pink

By Cheryl Katz

Maybe it’s the premature bud and burst of the magnolia trees lining Commonwealth Avenue–the result of a particularly mild New England winter–that got me. But not since watching Kay Thompson in her role as fashion editor Maggie Prescott in the 1957 movie Funny Face have I been quite so convinced to Think Pink.

Red is dead, blue is through,
Green’s obscene, brown’s taboo.
And there is not the slightest excuse for plum or puce
–or chartreuse.

And though, unlike Maggie, I’m not exactly an iconoclast–I am still a fan of every color from grass green to gray–right now, at this very moment, I’m in love with pink. Whether ballet slipper pale or gutsy geranium, pink

Feels so gay, feels so bright,
Makes your day, makes your night.
Pink is now the color to which
You gotta switch!

It may be, as my husband Jeffrey often reminds me, that once you’re tuned into looking for something, it seems to reappear again and again (red cars or men in blue shirts are his favorite examples). No matter, I seem to be seeing pink–everywhere.

The magnolia tree that got me thinking. Photo by Cheryl Katz.

Balleroy Wallpaper by Manuel Canovas. Photo by Kevin Musumano

Cobble Hill Royal Chair. Photo courtesy of ABC Carpet and Home

Pillow courtesy of Michelle Willey. Photo by Kevin Musumano