This article originally appeared in the Spring 2025 Pink Issue of Showstopper Magazine.
The influence of pink is surprisingly measurable. From TV and movies to red carpets, pink is an expressive element in fashion, film, and advertising. Trace the many influences of pink through decades of masterpieces and history with us!
1939
The Wizard of Oz
Gilbert Adrian designed Glinda’s gorgeous pink dress for Jeanette MacDonald for San Francisco (1936), but the gown reappeared in Victor Fleming’s classic technicolor film with some additional glitter. Unfortunately, because old Hollywood costumes were often reused, no one knows where this dress is today.
1961
Holly Golightly, Breakfast at Tiffany’s
Holly Golightly’s hot pink cocktail dress is movie magic! The customer look is a knee-length dress featuring fan-shaped appliques with small rhinestone accents and a matching pink bow. In the film, Audrey wears it with a matching hot pink coat, shoes, tiar, and pink rhinestone earrings.
1961
Jackie Kennedy
Jackie Kennedy’s pink Chanel suit is an iconic Coco Chanel design. A favorite of Jackie and John F. Kennedy, the suit can be seen in several of her appearances in 1961 and 1962, but it is best known for being the suit she wore when JFK was assassinated on November 22, 1963.
1962
Lucille Ball, The Lucy Show
After I Love Lucy ended, Lucille Ball returned to the screen in a sequel series, The Lucy Show, that ran for most of the 1960s. Over the course of the show’s six seasons, this textured pink coat and matching dress made several appearances. It is last seen in a thrift store in the episode “Lucy & The Stolen Stole.”
1968
Mary Kay’s Pink Cadillac
Mary Kay purchased her pink Cadillac in 1968 and immediately had it repainted to match the shadee of “Mountain Laurel Blush.” The car was Mary Kay’s personal style, but it was also an advertisement for the brand. Pink cars became a sales reward for top sellers of Mary Kay products.
1978
Pink Ladies, Grease
The Pink Ladies are the greaser girl clique of Rydell High School. They don’t follow the rules and run the school in pink jackets and their own pink car. This girl gang even has pink bowling balls!
Fun Fact: The Pink Ladies didn’t exist in the original stage version of Grease and were created specifically for the film adaptation to give the female characters their own identity. (The picture above is from Grease 2 (1982)!)
1985
Madonna
Madonna released “Material Girl” and its music video as the second single of her Like a Virgin album. In the music video, Madonna plays Marilyn Monroe in a beautiful hot pink ensemble as she sings and dances to “Material Girl.”
Fun Fact: Madonna’s gown in the “Material Girl” music video was directly inspired by Marilyn Monroe’s famous look from Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953)—the look shown at the top of this article.
1986
Andie Walsh, Pretty in Pink
Did you know Molly Ringwald hated the Pretty in Pink prom dress during filming? She even cried when it was shown to her! Molly shared with Today that now she wishes she had kept it. Even she sees it as a 1980s dream dress now!
1987
Jennifer Gray, Dirty Dancing
Everyone knows the dance finale of Dirty Dancing. Baby, newly transformed from loner to cool girl, and Johnny, no longer under Max’s thumb, perform the last dance of the season. In an interview with Indie, Dirty Dancing costume designer Hilary Rosenfeld shared that she still gets emails about where to get the dress she designed!
2001
Elle Woods, Legally Blonde
Does anyone have a larger pink wardrobe than Elle Woods? Harvard is a piece of cake, but rocking all pink is hard! Reese Witherspoon and costume designer Sophie de Rakoff visited sororities to take notes before filming. “Everybody was in pink, and I was like, why are we trying to reinvent the wheel? Obviously it has to be pink,” de Rakoff told Vogue.
Fun Fact: Reese Witherspoon wore 40 different hairstyles as Elle Woods in Legally Blonde, which were paired with her many iconic pink outfits. The character’s love for pink was carefully chosen to reflect her bubbly, optimistic personality, but also to challenge stereotypes about femininity and intelligence.
2004
Mean Girls (2004)
On Wednesdays, we wear pink. Need we say more? Regina George and her clique of too-cool-for-school girls rule the school in the best of 2000s fashion including pink outfits reserved for every occasion, especially Wednesday (or, you know, you can’t sit with us).
2019
Lady Gaga, Met Gala
They say pink is transformative, and Lady Gaga took it literally at the 2019 Met Gala. She walked the carpet in a large hot pink George Maxwell gown complete with a giant pink bow that transformed into a black gown that transformed into a black fishnet look. Oh, and she pulled a hot pink wagon.
2024
Mean Girls (2024)
The mean girls are back! This movie musical inspired by a musical inspired by a movie inspired by a book brought Regina George’s attitude and style into the 2020s. And like the mean girls in every version of the story, this decade’s Plastics wear pink on Wednesdays.
