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INK it’s my new obsession . . . pink is the new kind of lingo,” Steve Tyler crooned on the sentimental 1997 Aerosmith ballad named for the colour of the moment. Yes, it’s back, and it’s as shocking as ever. Nowadays we think of pink as being girly and feminine, while blue is the colour of baby boys, but not that long ago the exact opposite was true.

In 1918 an article in the trade publication Earnshaw’s Infants’ Department said, “The generally accepted rule is pink for the boys, and blue for the girls. The reason is that pink, being a more decided and stronger colour, is more suitable for the boy, while blue, which is more delicate and dainty, is prettier for the girl.”

The article is cited by Smithsonian.com, which also refers to a 1927 edition of Time magazine. “[It] printed a chart showing sexappropriate colors for girls and boys according to leading US stores. In Boston, Filene’s told parents to dress boys in pink. So did Best & Co in New York City, Halle’s in Cleveland and Marshall Field in Chicago.”

Jay Gatsby famously wore a pink, threepiece linen suit in the 1925 novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald, an outfit that symbolised the decadence of the roaring ’20s. Ralph Lauren himself designed the version of the pink suit that Robert Redford wore in the 1974 film version of the novel.

Leonardo DiCaprio played Gatsby in Baz Luhrmann’s 2013 remake, and his pink suit is part of the Brooks Brothers’ Gatsby collection.

It was only after World War 2 that pink became associated with femininity. Men were returning from the fighting, and women who had replaced them in the factories were encouraged to become homemakers. Fashion and homeware brands used shades of pink in their products because its cheerful vibe was seen as an antidote to the drab factory environment.

Christian Dior’s first collection New Look, unveiled in Paris in 1947, featured ladylike silhouettes, feminine cuts and lots of pink throughout the range.

Fast forward to last year, when Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton’s pant-suits became a campaign cliché. Ralph Lauren was her go-to designer; a hot pink Lauren gown was one of her most memorable outfits. More than two decades earlier, in 1994, Hillary’s choice of a pink sweater was a leading talking point after her first news conference as first lady. It became known as “the pretty-inpink press conference”, and the Washington Post said later: “The press viewed Clinton’s decision to wear pink — ‘an unusual hue for her,’ the San Francisco Chronicle noted — as an attempt to soften the image of a first lady who was seen by some as wielding too much power.”