Pink Power

- Radhika Sanghani

"It's like having my little Pony in the office..." cries a colleague as he catches sight of my outfit. To show me exactly what he means, he then spends the next two minutes frantically searching for an image on his computer to demonstrate his point. Finally, he pulls up an image of a pony wearing three shades of pink. “It’s you!” He stabs his finger at the screen, peals of laughter echoing around the newsroom I work in.

I look at the screen, then down at my oufit. He is correct. The triptych of garments I’m wearing are the exact same colours as My Little Pony. My bell-sleeved jumper, metallic skirt and Adidas Gazelles are all varying shades of what the world has come to call ‘millennial pink’.

This is the first time I’ve worn any colour in over 15 years. Instead, at 27 years of age, my wardrobe is a calm, composed sea of inky navy, corporate grey, lots of black and the odd white T-shirt. At a push I might consider a splash of pastel blue, but that’s as far as it goes. These shades have come to reflect my identity: smart, sensible, ‘grown-up’. It is a world devoid of colour – and thus one I feel safe in. Pink? On me? You’ve got to be joking…

It all started at my friend Vivi’s 12th birthday party – it was 2002. She was having a disco, the first one I’d ever been to. I’d begged my mother to buy me a new outfit, and we thought we’d found the perfect one: a knee-length denim skirt with an in-built studded belt, black sandals, and the pièce de résistance – a vivid pink off-the-shoulder top with purple sparkles.