"In the West, pink first became fashionable in the mid-1700s, when European aristocrats -- both men and women -- wore faint, powdery variants as a symbol of luxury and class. Madame de Pompadour, the chief mistress of Louis XV, loved the color so much that, in 1757, French porcelain manufacturer Sèvres named its exquisite new shade of pink, Rose Pompadour, after her. Pink was not then considered a "girls" color -- infants of both sexes were dressed in white. The tint was, in fact, often considered more appropriate for little boys because it was seen as a paler shade or red, which had "masculine," military undertones."