Up the reds, the colours of insurrection and passion and blood: the strident scarlet suits of Dolce & Gabbana, Iceberg's transparent ruby raincoats, the total looks in bright berry shades at Lanvin.
Up the blues, the complexions of authority, dignity, royalty: the cobalt coats of Calvin, Gucci's iridescent peacocks and the inky twilight overcoats of Burberry. Blue gives other colours their vibration, as Cézanne noted, and resonates vigorously with red: perfectly counterbalanced; the matter and anti-matter of pop.
I was right. The only color that can really match the intensity of red is the cool candor of blue, as evidenced by the outfit of a guy a I featured before at La Folie Douce.
"Red protects itself. No other colour is as territorial. It stakes a claim, is on the alert against the spectrum. Red is a moment in time. Blue constant. Red is quickly spent. An explosion of intensity. It burns itself. The blue of work clothes in France. The blue of overalls here in England, and the blue Levi's that conquered the world. Red rags to John Bull. Royal blue of garter robes. Deep cobalt blue."
Red is something one cannot have enough of, sometimes just as much as white, or even black.
Quotes taken from 'Chroma' by Derek Jarman
Photography by David Hughes, Styling by Joel Bough
Arena Homme Plus Winter Spring 2009-2010