Blue for a boy? Think again.

In Western cultures, baby boys are typically dressed in blue and little girls in pink. It’s tradition. Or is it? In fact, for centuries, both boys and girls wore white dresses until about the age of six. Pink and blue began being used as colours for babies in the 19th century, but not as you might expect. For decades, boys wore pink, seen as a ‘stronger’ colour, while girls were adorned in ‘dainty’ blue. It wasn’t until the 1940s that the two colours became gender-specific as we know them today, thanks to retailers in the United States who began promoting this new trend.

So if you’re painting a nursery, perhaps it’s time to question your thoughts on gender-appropriate colours…