Red

CEBU, Philippines — It is the color of revolution, of cardinals, of boldness, of warmth and fury, of high art. No other color has quite the same extraordinary appeal. Red.

It seems humans are hard-wired to red. The color is just so fundamental, so fused to primal human itches. It is quirky, loud and assertive. It screams.

Red is the color of the stop sign, of alert or alarm, of danger, of passion, of power and excitement. The color has also come to represent evil and holiness. Most of all, red resembles a vibrant life.

Perhaps the closest that a person may experience red’s power is to wear it. It makes a strong ‘statement’ about the wearer. Something like: “Notice me!”

In a scene from the 1999 sci-fi film, “The Matrix Neo,” the hero is ambushed after becoming distracted by a woman on the street wearing a slinky red outfit. Now, a new study explains how such scenarios happen. The study hints that humans may have been conditioned to associate the color with fertility.

Adam Pazda, a psychologist at the University of Rochester in New York and author of the new study, believes that it’s an effect that likely stems from biology: “When many primate females – from chimpanzees to 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 males the signal that it’s time to make their move.”

The arts have long fallen for red, too. Cinema loves a character in red – from Julia Roberts at the opera in “Pretty Woman” to the couple of “Don’t Look Now” haunted in Venice by a figure in a red coat. In Nabokov’s film “Invitation to a Beheading,” the prisoner says, “I suppose the pain of parting will be red and loud.”

Red is lovely in a child’s hat in Renaissance paintings. In theatre, the red that floods the stage exudes love or fury. Red is like fire that grabs the eye and stirs the senses.

In fashion, it worked exactly that way some time ago when actress Cate Blanchett graced the cover of Vogue Magazine in a spectacular Alexander McQueen gown – strapless, sculpted, in an uncompromising, devastating crimson red. Suddenly many brides-to-be wanted their bridal gowns red, instead of the usual white. Even those who didn’t want to defy tradition – because white was just appropriate – could not get a red wedding gown off their minds.

Fashion maven Diana Vreeland said that being bored of red was akin to “becoming tired of the person you love.” Charlotte Sinclair, in an article at www.vogue.co.uk, writes of photographs in Vreeland’s New York apartment, where “she was shown reclining, magnificent, with her inimitable ‘kabuki’ painted face (red lips and nails, rouge on her cheeks, forehead and ears), submerged in red, from the scarlet-flowered walls, sofa and cushions to the red carpet, tables, doors, lampstands and picture frames.” Vreeland was definitely a front-line advocate of red.

Red’s refining effect was also the overruling theme in a Givenchy collection to mark the end of Riccardo Tisci’s reign at the house last year. The best highlights of Tisci’s 12-year tenure – Bambi-print sweatshirts, knife-sharp tailored coats, transparent tulle dresses – were reimagined in “Givenchy Red,” a traffic-stopping matt scarlet.

Over at Valentino – where red is a defining signature – Pierpaolo Piccioli softens the hue into such effects as a burgundy tulle overlay for a pink lace dress for winter. At Alexander McQueen, “the use of red has always come with a deep sense of its historical and cultural significance, expressing ideas of devilry, paganism and mischief in the brand’s early days, and a no less bewitching or dangerous allure today,” writes Sinclair, citing its autumn collection: the red threads that joined together the bodice on a leather dress had a part-Frankenstein’s monster, part-bondage, wholly subversive appeal.

Sinclair suggests, though, that like anything with combustible potential, red is to be approached with caution. Naturally, every woman should own a red dress for its confidence-boosting power, at least. “But wearing red top-to-toe more than, say, once a month is exhausting to even the sturdiest of spirits.”