In this promotional film for fabric dye, a young girl (Jean Millar) is persuaded to change her monochrome dress to pink by her artist lover (Albert Jackson) and her father (Burton Craig). The solution comes in the form of Twink Dye, which allows her to bring colour to her clothes and her home. Consistent with its story, the film contains selective applied colours, reserved mainly for the clothes, in order to visually enhance the “striking” results that can be achieved with Twink Dye. The brand thus sells its product via colour film technology, from the full range of rainbow hues in the opening and intertitles, to the Twink Dye shop with its display of colour samples, the actual dyeing sequence in which a white dress turns into “The Pink of Perfection”, and the happy-ending dance scene, where the entire living room is finally in colour.
Thus, the film not only shows off the product’s wide colour palette that is available, but also uses sensory colour as a commercial strategy. In the display of colouring products, we further find an ironic overlap between the textile and colour film industries: textiles used aniline dyes for dyeing clothes, while cinema used the same synthetic dyes to colour its films and the garments they depicted.
Another connection between film technology and clothing in relation to dyestuff is the “Colour Revolution” then invading all spheres of everyday life, entertainment and fashion included. However, the trend towards colour couldn’t be afforded by everyone. Products like Twink Dye presented themselves as enabling lower-class families, like the one in this film, to become part of a larger movement towards the democratization of colour. Yet, in this specific film, Twink represents not only a do-it-yourself means to be part of a trend, but also mirrors traditional gender roles. The trigger for the Girl’s quest for colour is not her own desire to be fashionable, but that of her artist lover and her father, who urge her to wear more colour. Ironically, both men are utterly achromatic, which strengthens the traditional association of colour with females.

Olivia Kristina Stutz, Noemi Daugaard