Cute Pens For Us Girls!

[liapuyat]

There are many beautiful patterned celluloid fountain pens that are attractive to women, whether modern or vintage. But then men like them too. I'd call those classic, rather than cute.

 

The Japanese brands seem to have a lot of "cute" in mind. I'm a girl and I don't fancy Hello Kitty anything, but I do like pink and have a pink Pilot Prera and a champagne pink Pilot Decimo. Sailor came out with a white Pro Gear with rose gold trim, but I understand that's out of production. It does, however, offer its other pens in different attractive colors (Pro Color, etc.).

 

I don't really see fountain pens as being gendered. My favorites are classics; it all depends on how you fit them into your lifestyle.

[mbankirer]

Many of the maki-e lacquers are quite feminine...I have a DaniTrio with wysteria and swallows and a Pilot Namiki of a Crane and Turtle.

[dorothynotgale]

The BIC people seem to have this all swen up. The customer reviews at Amazon have been posted already

One of those reviewers is me.

 

I find this sort of thing irritating - it's one thing to seek out pens that are pretty, but asking "Where are the girl pens?" or marketing with "Out of our vast catalogue, these are the ones for women!" implies that all normal pens are for guys unless they are over-the-top stereotypically "girly."

 

For that matter I've not seen many GLBT fountain pens, or many African fountain pens either.

 

I was also hoping to find an FSM fountain pen, but it seems that I can only find Buddhist, Hindu, Christian, and Islamic themes.

Can I get a female feminist atheist-leaning agnostic (but with Pagan influences) Democrat pen? Must be purple.

 

My cute girly pen is the Apple Green Safari. Because I'm a woman and I think the color is pretty.

[northlodge]

There have been some historic attempts at the ladies pen, the CS Dinkie may be one, the Curzon Summit Joy pens of the 20's / 30's another (see here: http://summit.ch944.net/section3.php ), and the Rosemary ' thats for remembrance' pens of the same era. These would still fit the requirements of the OP

 

More recently, I have seen some Jean Pierre Lepine pens that look like classy purse pens for the younger lady.

[kuroba]

My favorite girly pens are the LAMY Safari in Pink and the Kaweco Ice Sort in pink. The Pilot Prera in pink, lime green and ivory is cute too. Inoxcrom also did a couple of series of pens with designer Agatha Ruiz de la Prada that were all clearly focused towards ladies and girls.

 

I also like the look of the Esterbrook purse/pastel pens and some of the Platinum Maki-e pens have very pretty and delicate patterns

 

Ironically I didn't like the Sailor Hello Kity pen because it was too over-the-top-we're-trying-too-hard-to-appeal-to-girls cute

[GabrielleDuVent]

Aaand these kind of responses (pens are NOT gendered, this is silly, blah blah blah) is precisely why I put this thread up.

 

There are watches for women, which are clearly more delicate in design than men's. There are leather products for women. There are rose-scented shaving creams for women from Art of Shaving (which, if you've ever visited the shop, screams "FOR MEN"). There are laptops in pale lilacs. Yet when it comes to pens, it is much more difficult to find a slender, delicately-designed pen that a woman might enjoy using. (Lamy Safari is not designed for women. The design is rather utilitarian and clunky.)

 

To be honest, the vast majority of fountain pens I encounter do seem to be designed for men. My "feminine" pens are all made in Japan; they are more slender, more delicately made...

 

http://userdisk.webry.biglobe.ne.jp/020/340/39/N000/000/005/135891397543813117420_DSCF9093.JPG

 

http://userdisk.webry.biglobe.ne.jp/020/340/39/N000/000/001/130870638449616428410_DSCF4125.JPG

 

Those are the "Lady Pilot" series. I have the bottom one, and it is rather clear that it is for a woman. Or is it that only Asian females would rather use these pens, and western women would rather use something like this?

 

http://static.jetpens.com/images/a/000/024/24575.jpg

[whitedot]

Young lady here. I do not find that FPs are geared towards men. Vintage, there are models specific to women, nurses and purses. Modern, the vast majority of pen companies have "girly" models in addition to unisex ones.

 

Shall we go through them?

 

If anything, I am much more comfortable using a big, black pen in PVD, than my boyfriend would be using a slim, pink, floral one.

[Nashten]

In a more Vintage note: Parker has Lady Duofolds. (Smaller, lighter, brighter versions of the regular Duofolds. These are 1920's and 30's though.)

[schin]

I always thought the beautiful Princess Grace pen is the epitome of feminine class.

 

 

REALLY want one!

[whitedot]

I might add that I am Asian too.

[dorothynotgale]

I always thought the beautiful Princess Grace pen is the epitome of feminine class.

 

 

REALLY want one!

It's pretty, but I just can't with the big pink gem on the clip. Sparkly isn't me, and I'd spend all my time worrying about scratching or dislodging it or something. (Then again, that's why I don't aspire to own any really expensive pens).

[GabrielleDuVent]

I always thought the beautiful Princess Grace pen is the epitome of feminine class.

 

 

REALLY want one!

 

Those are the rare ones, in line with Parker Sonnet Small. What I'm curious about is this clear disparity (and an evident "No! No feminine pens!"). Japan produces pens that are meant for women (Platinum Goldfish, for example, or Pilot Minuet), and women buy them and use them because it's feminine. I myself use Lamy quite often (partly because I have hands that are on par with men in size), but I'd much rather prefer and would be willing to pay extra if there was a slimmer version, or one that looked less... clunky. To me, even Lady Duofolds look a bit masculine; I don't think they'd look out of place in my mate's hand. My Minuet would.

 

 

If anything, I am much more comfortable using a big, black pen in PVD, than my boyfriend would be using a slim, pink, floral one.

 

That is akin to saying "Well, I'd be uncomfortable with my bf wearing a ladies' Baume and Mercier, so why would B&M make ladies' watches".

[whitedot]

 

Those are the rare ones, in line with Parker Sonnet Small. What I'm curious about is this clear disparity (and an evident "No! No feminine pens!"). Japan produces pens that are meant for women (Platinum Goldfish, for example, or Pilot Minuet), and women buy them and use them because it's feminine. I myself use Lamy quite often (partly because I have hands that are on par with men in size), but I'd much rather prefer and would be willing to pay extra if there was a slimmer version, or one that looked less... clunky. To me, even Lady Duofolds look a bit masculine; I don't think they'd look out of place in my mate's hand. My Minuet would.

 

 

That is akin to saying "Well, I'd be uncomfortable with my bf wearing a ladies' Baume and Mercier, so why would B&M make ladies' watches".

 

How so? A leap in "logic". If you wish to draw an analogy: I would be more comfortable wearing a Classima than my bf would be comfortable wearing a Linea. Women are often seen wearing trousers. Are men generally observed in skirts?

 

Where did I make B&M's decision for them? It is arguably more difficult to fashion a unisex watch than it is to make a unisex pen, and if I were minded to make money, the bulk of my hypothetical pen line would target both genders (and all persuasions in between).

 

In any case, let us review all the major pen-makers to which FPN dedicates a forum.

 

Sheaffer

Cross

CS

Estie

Pelikan

Parker

Waterman

Wahl-Eversharp

MB

 

We could even do the Italians, in all their colourful splendour.

 

Do tell, which one has not offered a pen exclusive to our gender?

Edited June 20, 2013 by whitedot

[mirosc]

Something thinner, or with filigreed barrel, or more colours? I personally want a thinner pen in brighter colours (yes, yes, I know there are Safaris, but the design of the pen isn't really... nice). Maybe a fleur-de-lis on the clip.

 

It's hard to find such a pen these days. Mass production rules. One size fits them all. Take a look at how different pens in earlier times were made. The same pen in Junior, Senior, Maxima, Extra, Oversize andwhatnotelse. Lady's editions, too. Fat versions, slim versions. Same pen, but different version for different members of our society.

 

Take a look at Sheaffer, how many pens for ladies they had offered once. Just one example:

http://www.sheaffertarga.com/Lady%20Sheaffer/lady%20images/XXIII%20white%20petit%20point.jpg

I have some of the slim models, too. They are really nice.

 

But it seems to me that today such variations are not called for anymore. At least not in the mass market. All pen are created equal. If you want to, get philosophical if this change says something about our society.

 

For your other wish: If I remember correctly, there even was a Targa model with a fleur de lis. And in the last year there was an Italian pen here on classifieds with a red fleur de lis on a blue body. Looked really great (I considered to buy it, but didn't, still have some regrets - that's why I remember it...)

Edited June 20, 2013 by mirosc

[maryannemoll]

Oh, schin, I have been drooling over that pen for some time now.

[XiaoMG]

I cannot find the insistence in this thread that pens cannot be designed for a gender. There were a few posts that suggested that pens can be genderless, which seems to be the vast majority of the market. To assume the default is masculine is a bit of a stretch, and those that try to appeal very directly to machismo like that Montegrappa Stallone monstrosity get very little appreciation around here. Most depend on relatively simple designs and "safe" color themes to avoid alienating segments of their possible customer base...it is not because the generic pen aesthetic is inherently masculine.

 

Is it simply a size issue? There are quite a lot of smaller FPs, and there used to be even more when they were actually made to be used in the mass market. They were often advertised in exactly the same sexist language this thread likes to use (let's just confiscate the mancard of any boy who likes a Chalana, shall we?).

 

There are many aesthetic niches that are poorly represented. I'd say "girly" pens (which I suspect is a gendered stereotype produced and enforced by male-driven systems) enjoy a better chunk of the market than do ones that pander to a flamboyantly "masculine" crowd.

[Opooh]

Being a man and going for the full- and oversize range of pens, in my opinion pens are unisex, the only two benchmarks are size of the hand and whether you like the pen or not, apart of the axiom that the qualities of the pen are good.

Brands like MB however have a range of pens more destinated for a female public. For example': the Marlene Dietrich and the Tribute to Montblanc.

[Lorna Reed]

I recently got this Pilot Capless Decimo and I'm very happy with it. It's slim and elegant and .......pink.

 

[kernando]

Everybody send your Chalanas, Minuets, small Duofolds and Balances to me. I will give them a good home.

 

Where are all the boys who like cute pens?

[kernando]

Also, it appears FPN still has Stipula Passaportos. They're cute, but not girly.