The Red Effect
RED.
WHAT DO YOU THINK of when someone
says it? Sinner or saint? Warrior or prostitute? King or merchant?
Do you realize this single color has
been on top and it has been on bottom: from association with the sun to
accusation that if someone created the color, they consorted with the devil
himself.
Red—a
color with a multitude of meanings. Starting with basic communication, the
histories and meanings of this scarlet color run deep. Did you know that in
Hebrew, Adam (אדם) simply means human
being, but it is also related to the word for red
(adom)? And that the ancient Azetec
word tlapalli means both red and, simply, color?
Research show red’s more vital connotations across the cultures of this
planet are blood and passion, in all its forms. According to Greek mythology,
the red rose was given birth from the blood of
the slain Adonis, Aphrodite’s lover. Thus, red
became associated with and the universal symbol of lovers and natures
life/death cycle.
Remember I mentioned red with king and merchant? Well, historically,
crimson has been associated with money, especially in clothing. Until the
invention of synthetic dyes, red was worn by
only the wealthy and was “couture” because producing it required the importing
of dyestuffs, which drove up the costs and a lust for this ruby-colored
clothing. Only nobility, aristocrats, persons of means wore this color until
the 19th century…whether the color was even in vogue.
Red
was the choice color of the Catholic Church, even when etiquette experts of the
18th century decried red as “vulgar and unsuitable”, advising any woman
of good taste to refrain from wearing it.
A couple of times this color again fell
out of fashion were when it was associated with aristocratic excess, but
many women continued to wear it anyway. Then, again, in 1850 when Nathaniel
Hawthorne’s book The Scarlet Letter seemed to cement red with adultery—well thank you Hawthorn for that
condemning scarlet letter “A” forced on your protagonist Hester Prynne as a
sign of her sin and setting red, again, sartorially out of step.
Then, during the mid-19th
century, synthetic dyes brought a new clientele to the color red…the working class. In spite of it staining their
skin, or worse, poisoning the wearer, people couldn’t help but wear the vibrant
hue formerly the exclusive property of the “rich”. However, while it seemed to
gain a “fan” following among the commoners, this cherry color lost its
upper-crust “groupies”…it’s very ubiquity made id déclassé.
Today, it seems a red dress muddles men’s minds. There’s a recent study
that shows that men rate women who wear red
clothing as females more interested in sex; does that seem to hint that men, as
humans, might be conditioned to associating this color with fertility?
Is that an effect that likely stems
from biology? A New York psychologist thinks so based on when many of the
primate females, from chimps to certain types of baboons called mandrills,
become fertile, their estrogen levels peak, opening up their blood vessels and
turning their faces bright red. This flushed complexion seems to give male
primates the signal it time to make their move.
Other studies show human males seem
more attracted to women clothed in red as
opposed to some color such as white or beige. And, it appears that it doesn’t
have to be a severe cut that exposes too much. In fact, it doesn’t have to be a
red dress or sexy outfit at all. It can be a red T-shirt. RED, and its sister shade pink, immediately
hearken love, lust, and sex.
So, whether it’s a “gentlemen-start-your-engines”
date red dress or your aunt wearing her Valentine’s cheer with little candy
hearts stitched to her sweater, red signals
hubba-hubba.
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