Re: IML: In Defense of Pink, and Purple

[Christopher H <imperial67@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Mamie was also known as Mimi to her grandkids and some loved ones. Or so
I've read.

Love the hat/tailfin connection! It's interesting to note the ways in which
automotive design has both followed and at times led fashion and decorating
over the years. Whether it was two-tone pastels, the Mod Top or paisley
vinyl roof, the simulated "tooled wood" that GM loved in the mid-1970s, or
just the use of color (think of the avocado years in both appliances and
cars in the early 1970s), the design communities are fairly well integrated,
and seem to reach this unification ahead of time.

Chris in LA
67 Crown (somber but elegant Charcoal)
78 NYB Salon (timeless Silver)


On 8/26/06 3:18 PM, Bill Watson at wwatson5@xxxxxxxxx wrote:

> Never heard of "Mimi Eisenhower Pink", not that means much, nor that the
> wife of President Dwight D. "Ike" Eisenhower (who was "Mamie", by the way,
> and not "Mimi").had any influence on colours.
> 
> Ike was elected in 1952 and pastel colours did not becone the rage until the
> 1956 model year.   And pink was not the only 'new' colour in the pallette as
> pale greens, blues, turquoise, copper hues, light tans and golds etc., all
> became the rage along with two and three tone paint schemes..   These new
> colours also swept into the home as well.  My mother around 1957 decided to
> do the livingroom and diningroom in a pale coral colour.   Of  course it was
> repainted a few years later when pastel colours became passé
> 
> And the trend affected women's fashions as deep red lipstick and nail polish
> were replaced by lighter shades and hues.  Colours and women's hemlines are
> usually gauges of how the economy is going.   People are feeling better in a
> booming economy and thus colours become brighter and fashion less somber.
> In 1950-51 the colours were predominantly dark hues with women's hemlines
> well below the knee and men wearing baggy, double-breasted suits and block
> hats.   Under Eisenhower the country's economy boomed with sales of all
> consumer goods rising.  Thus when the peak hit around 1956-57, colours were
> bright and cheerful, hemlines were just below the kneecap and men wore
> tighter fitting suits with lighter, more streamlined hats.  In 1956 Lee Hats
> compared the slender brim of their new model that dipped slightly at the
> front and rose at the rear.  They called the hat "Flight Sweep" and compared
> it to the styling of the new Chrysler products.
> 
> Twenty years earlier, in the depression, car colours were dark and women's
> hemlines were just high enough to see the ankle.   Seems ironic, really,
> that clothes in bad times use more material than in good times.
> 
> Bill
> Vancouver, BC
> 
> 
> 
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Eric" <gearhead@xxxxxxxxxxx>
> To: <mailing-list@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Sent: Saturday, August 26, 2006 12:13 PM
> Subject: Re: IML: In Defense of Pink, and Purple
> 
> 
>> A few things come to mind about pink cars in the 50's. Foremost, the
> current
>> 1st Lady of the times was to have loved the color pink. Soon, an official
>> "Mimi Eisenhower Pink" had spread the nation. Ok, so I hadn't even been
> born
>> yet, but this is how I remember mom telling me the story describing
>> something she saw that was pink,
>> 
>> "in that gawd-awful Mimi Eisenhower Pink"
>> 
>> Weather Mimi was crazy for pink is true or it was some corporation's
>> marketing scheme, there was a lot of pink stuff by the time of my arrival
> to
>> this world in 1961. Infact, I just purchased a 1961 Frigidaire Custom
>> Imperial Flair range that was finished in appliance pink, as was
> everything
>> else in this 1961 built kitchen it came out of.
>> 
>> Women were taking to the roads with the newly introduced power steering &
>> brakes and clutchless driving. Enter all sorts of effeminate design
> themes:
>> the Dodge LaFemme,  pastel paints, delicate appearing nylon fabrics in
> cars,
>> etc, all things to make driving a comfort or visually appealing.
>> 
>> I remember by the time I was about 6 or so, I looked at my neighbor's
>> purple, black and white '55 Dodge as being unusual as there weren't many
>> other purple cars around. Well, what goes around comes around and by 1999,
>> 1955 purple was the rage again. Maybe there was a more secure sense in the
>> nation about having a pink car in the driveway, but not all people enjoyed
>> the fresh break of lighter pastels from the dreary war era maroons and
> olive
>> drabs. My uncle used to cuss at the banana yellow '60 Olds he had to ride
> in
>> when he was a youngster.
>> 
>> So, to pink Imperial owners, I'll go out on a limb and say that you have a
>> Presidential sense of color, no matter how it annoys my dear ol' ma.  :-).
>> 
>> Eric
>> Portland, Oregon
>> 
>> 
> 
> 
> 
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