Not every man is comfortable in pink as  pink is the one color traditionally appropriated by women, but should we really care? Why NOT wear pink just like any other color on the spectrum? It seems to make no sense NOT to wear pink. There is no reasonable argument or logic not to wear pink. Yet despite the many pink business shirts or polos, and the occasional pink tie that we notice in man’s wardrobe & fashion, the color pink is generally grossly under-represented for men to wear since what appears to be the beginning of time.

Therefore, please follow carefully the following analysis of why perhaps men CAN wear pink if they want,after all, it’s analogy of sports fashion, which will indicate that no man should fear to wear pink, not in any form, style, or fashion.  Men in pink it is!

The old joke is that in order for a man to qualify to be on the Italian National Soccer Team, one’s first qualification must not be talent, fitness, stamina, or experience – but simply beauty. One would expect therefore that Italian men in soccer would neither exhibit fear nor shame to wear pink. And indeed, the venerable soccer team of Juventus of Turin (whose nickname is the Old Lady), last season (2012/2013) for the first time dared to have their AWAY jerseys – good grief – in the controversial color of pink. Why, we shall never know – besides the fact that sponsors and clothing manufacturers often change the away jersey kits while keeping home jerseys colors the same –, but for this season (2013/2014) Juventus now has changed their away jersey from beautiful pink to ordinary canary yellow. Was pink too progressive even for the Old Lady? Even for beautiful men, all of them close to gods?

No, but now we must look to most southern and isolated part of Europe, a place which was once part of ancient Greece, and not of Rome, to find the ONLY soccer team in Europe which has the courage and the sense of style and fashion to wear pink – pink & black shorts, pink jerseys, pink socks – for their home jerseys; it’s the Sicilian city of Palermo.  The Telegraph of London once had the Palermo outfit listed as number one in a series of ugliest sports’ wear on record, but we respectfully digress, because the Palermo players look good and comfortable in their jerseys, and most definitely handsome as well.

But its glaringly clear that all men are not comfortable in pink. Not even in sports. Quick research shows (and you can try this yourself) that if you Google a man’s sport and the color pink that many different items show up, but hardly any teams or players. Palermo is an exception confirming the rule. The NFL has a pink program to create awareness for breast cancer apparently, but no team has appropriated the color. No hockey or basketball or baseball teams in pink. Pinkseems to be limited for fundraising efforts in men’s sports, also in baseball. And when grown up men and professional soccer players are asked to put on pink shirts for just one such a fundraiser, the results may be sadly comical. Here is, if one picture is worth a thousand words, a picture of Everton (the Premier League) trying on their pink fundraising jerseys before the match; all players look HIGHLY uncomfortable (except the goalkeeper who is in green).

So are there really no real men who love wearing pink in the universe except the beautiful Greek-Italians of Palermo?
Well, to make mother proud, and to change the name of the game, there certainly is ONE gravity defying professional rugby outfit in the Capital of Fashion itself – the Stade Français of Paris – who may very well have appropriated the color pink in a way that no woman’s sports team ever could. They wear pink on their sleeves, not just soft pink like Palermo, but frequently outrageous bright pink, decorated with flowers no less, setting the tone in voluptuous colors, and not just the tone before the match. These guys mean serious business not only when it comes to crushing opponents, but when it comes to style. If indeed it is true that, to paraphrase Oscar Wilde, every good conversation always starts with a pose, then these guys are not afraid at all, and they will start their rugby games with no fear and living the full bounty of what is superior style & color. Pink is their name & pink is their GAME. It is said that a man’s armor is his body and such, in all their skin colored hues, Stade Français, make all MEN – and their mothers – proud! Shocking indeed, but shockingly beautiful!

Thus visiting the Stade Français boutique at the stadium to do research for this article, the thought dawned that perhaps here was the only Pink Men’s Wear Store in the world. All items imaginable (lanyards, flags, hats, scarfs, shirts, underwear, socks etc. and then some) at the store were available in different hues and shades of pink, generally ranging between the color of fuchsia and soft pink, but with the flash pink missing for this season.

Stade Français carries a beautiful and grand Lily as a logo on all items (many rugby teams worldwide, both at the national level as well as club, have appropriated symbols NOT from the animal kingdom, but from kingdom of plants (the English Rose, the Fern of the All Blacks, the Lily-of-the-Valley by Toulon rugby, etc.)) and recently the venerable South African rugby team, to stay in style, has changed its logo from the Springbok, an animal, to the King Protea Flower, a grand flower, as the new symbol of a united post-apartheid South Africa.

Stade Français, by living up pink, has single-handedly smashed with both hands the stereotype that pink for women only.  The color pink has now become available for men to be courted and used. But how is this going to affect men wearing pink in the future of every-day life? Pink in the office? Pink at the bar? Hmmm.

Must we really first become a soccer prima-donna with a gun tattoo on the arm, and wearing a number 10 on the back, and then score goals like Fabricio Miccoli of Palermo?

Must we really become first like James Haskell of Stade Français: Ugly, mean, English, and fearsome, before pink looks good on us!?

No! I think not.

Aerosmith sang long ago:
Pink, it’s my new obsession
Pink, it’s not even a question
Pink, it’s the color of passion
Cause today it just goes with the fashion

So just to make sure, and to be on the safe side, we asked the pretty saleswoman at the boutique Stade Français, what, if anything, a man should NEVER wear in pink. The answer was ruthlessly immediate and direct, and yes gentlemen, there does remain a single taboo which even Stade Français Rugby will not break for you: A man is never EVER to wear PINK dress shoes …words to live by!

Posted by: Sandro