The color red is a point of
conflict for me. As my favorite color I have very strong sentiments and motivations
for how and why I prefer it above all else. I will now attempt to do the
impossible: explain my love of the color red, in this,
A Public Display of
Affection
Let me start off by saying that I was born right outside Cincinnati, OH, home of the Cincinnati Reds and that from a very young age she
(yes she) has been my belovéd. My first cognitive memory of this resolution was
in second grade when I brought my bfffl, Zach to church with me in West Chester,
OH. The time and place are embedded in my brain. During Sunday school, Zach and
my other friend Meredith were arguing about which is better: Yellow or red?
Yellow being Meredith’s favorite color and red being Zach’s. After a few
minutes of heated discussion between two 7-year-olds about the colors
of the rainbow, they asked me to weigh in. Instinctively, I said “red” for two
reasons. 1. Because Zach was my best-friend and I wanted to support my wingman
since birth and 2. Because Meredith had cooties and girls are icky. But being
forced to choose made me wonder.... “Have I ever chosen a ‘favorite color’?” In
this instance I merely had to choose which I preferred in relation to the
other.
A favorite though? Other
people have favorite colors. Blue, green, pink, orange, and even black or white.
But none of those suited me. Not enough woaoahh and too much blehhh. Could red be
my favorite color? Idk my bff Zach.
Fast-forward over a decade
and here I am looking back to that moment and I should have proposed then and
saved myself time and money on a ring. Red is, has been, and always will be the
ONLY color for me and I have finally come to a semi-communicable reason why.
There is no color like red.
She has so many insinuations and connotations attached to her that one can’t
help but be....attracted. Ooh-laa-laa. Red is controversial, passionate, sexual,
ruthless, loving, violent, bloody, patriotic, revolutionary. Never in my life
have I come across another color with such diversity in importance and
symbolism behind the same value scale.
Take the Nazis for example.
They utilized the power of red in what is generally considered to be the worst
thing to ever happen in the history of everything ever. Not to mention all the
people communists have sent to a permanent resting place over the years. Also
in the name of red. Yet, the same color that has put millions, possibly
billions to death worldwide is also part 1 of 3 in the “freest country in the
world.
RED, WHITE, AND BLUE ALL THE WAY BABY!! **spoken in a deeply southern accent**
Fun fact: roughly 74% of all
national flags IN THE WORLD contain some hue of red in them. Not even the
magnificent white that takes an impressive-but-still-not-first-like-red 71%
could beat her. Red is the mark of patriotism for one’s country as well as rebellion against another’s. French Revolution? World history and stuff? My 9th grade history teacher Mr. Molnar would be proud. The earliest
pieces of artwork known to man are cave paintings created, in red paint, some 42,000
years ago in Málaga, Spain. Who coincidentally use red in their flag. Need I continue?
We could write a novel about
all the brands that utilize the compromise and comfort of blue and green, but it takes it takes a special kind of passion for oneself and one's brand to use red. Here are a couple notables: LEGO, one of the top selling toys
worldwide since the 1950s and voted by TIME Magazine as one of “The Greatest Toys Ever
Made” uses red as their primary logo color and puts a 4-foot-tall, red LEGO 2x4 in every store they open. Why? Because it has presence. Coca freaking Cola the national drink of everywhere. Red. Ferrari [no
description needed]. The Vodafone Group, owner of Verizon Wireless and many
other telecommunication providers worldwide. Red. The BBC is the largest news broadcast in the world and they use red as well as CNN....the second largest news broadcast in the world. When one thinks of names such as these one does not envision an end point.
All I see is eternity.
A couple weeks ago, a friend
and I were chatting about why we both prefer red to other colors. During our discussion
I remember him saying something along the lines of, “I really love red and its
vibrancy as a color. The only thing that bothers me about it is that I don’t
own anything that goes with it.” Just a couple of dudes talking about colors and
fashion. Nothing to see here....But for me, I have never had this problem.
I. JUST. BUY. RED.
In fact, sometimes I buy too much red. My car, appropriately named
Scarlett, is Honda racing red. I painted half of my room red. Shower curtains?
Yep. Hats (x3), karabiner/key covers, shoes I wear (x4)? All red. My laptop
case even has a red lining like a pimp’s sport coat. My favorite jacket from H&M (another red company) is red.
Shirts, towels, pants (yes, pants), notebooks, deodorant, drawing utensils; the
list goes on. If everything in the world came in a shade of my sweet, sweet darling, my house would be the warmest place on earth.
But I have come to realize that we must treat red like a
fine wine. A red wine.... Respected always and enjoyed only in moderation and on occasion. Wear too much and you look
like an imbecile. But never at all? Sacrilege. She has the potential to make or
break the outfit, the moment, the mystique. I think we can all agree that a
white button up coupled with a grey suit and black shoes can be pretty darn
classy. But top it off with a crisp, red tie and matching pocket square? GQ Magazine’s Top 50 Dressed Men of FOREVER. A woman in a slender black dress, with her hair pulled back, and a dazzling
pearl necklace? B-e-a-utiful. But add a fresh coat of crimson lipstick and bright
red shoes? I’m starting to lose my focus..........................wait.
What was I talking about?
