Living in Zinn: Breaking Gender Stereotypes in Design

I have never been very good at being girly. I'm not a fan of pink, I own ONE skirt, and really can find better ways to torture myself than to wear heels. I'm not much of a tomboy either. I like make up and found that all my tomboy friends liked to playfully punch me. Yeah, um... no thanks. I don't think in gender stereotypes, and it took until I was in my 20's to truly understand the existence of "gender roles".

It hit me when I attended college for interior design. I walked in on the first day of interior design class, and... all girls. Where were the guys? Right... they're in the architecture classes. Eventually a couple guys joined the class (some straight and some gay- let's break that stereotype right here).  But, it was for the most part, a feminine make up. 

Once I married, I realized that I would automatically be paired up with the wives, and my husband with the men. It didn't matter that I often felt more comfortable with the men. I hear comments like "us girls" and cringe. Why must we divide ourselves so much?

And, here's where the title of this post comes in. A dear, talented colleague of mine (Drew Zinn of Zinn Design) often breaks the mold of what is "expected". He recently featured the color pink in his blog, with the title "Handsome in Pink", and completely shattered the idea that pink is a color for women with this stunning, masculine design:

Once again, he broke the mold. Drew didn't even hesitate to name pink his color of the month and work it into a masculine design. So, inspired by Drew, I thought we could take some time to throw out the gender stereotypes. Guys, if you like a little sparkle, go with a sparkle. Ladies, if you like clean lines, leather, and black, go for it! Don't ever let your gender dictate who you are.

Come back to us soon, Drew! We love you!