What is the origin of the British tradition of dressing little girls in pink and boys in blue?

Question

What is the origin of the British tradition of dressing little girls in pink and boys in blue?

Answer 1

It isn't just a British tradition. It goes back a long way. Babies, as you know, all look pretty much the same. It was a way to differentiate half of them without mixing up who belonged to whom. Just one of several methods used to hasten identity.  

Answer 2

It's not British! Little boys were always dressed in blue, little girls in pink until the late 60s early 70s. I had my daughter in 1973 and refused the then 'New born uniform' from the maternity: All white! I remember a midwife looking stunned as I put on a red and white Babygro on my 2 days old daughter. She didn't think it was appropriate to dress a baby in any other colour (Part from white/Blue and pink).

It was the same throughout Europe and many parts of America as well! It was just an established tradition that little boys wore blue, little girls pink.