Ode to Red

Red is one of my favourite colours, and what better day to celebrate it than on St Valentine's Day? Red has been considered the colour of love for centuries, symbolising the heart and the red rose. Hence the tradition of bestowing a dozen crimson roses to one's love on Valentine's Day – or perhaps a single long-stemmed bud if one's purse is a little slimmer. Not as cheap as it sounds, in the traditional language of flowers, a single rose means 'I love you'.

That hackneyed rhyme of roses and violets has a rather more highbrow origin in the eighteenth century, and is found in Gammer Gurton's Garland, a collection of English nursery rhymes published in 1784:

The rose is red, the violet's blue,
The honey's sweet, and so are you.
Thou art my love and I am thine;
I drew thee to my Valentine:
The lot was cast and then I drew,
And Fortune said it shou'd be you.

An even earlier source is Edmund Spenser's The Faerie Queen of 1590:

She bath'd with roses red, and violets blew,
And all the sweetest flowres, that in the forrest grew.

Of course, it is perfectly acceptable to bestow boxes of chocolates upon the object of one's affection too – especially in a heart-shaped box! Some might call that clichéd, others might call it sweet. 

The first commercial Valentine cards with pictures and words were produced at the end of the eighteenth century, and were called 'mechanical valentines' – for those lovers who were not confident in the verses produced by their own pen. By the mid nineteenth century cards were so popular they were being mass produced in factories, but it was not until the mid twentieth century that gifts were being exchanged too.

The fashion designer Valentino Garavani, after opening his fashion house in Rome in 1959, became particularly famous for making dresses in a vivid shade of red that has become known in the fashion industry as 'Valentino red'. The colour remained a favourite of his for decades, and even gives a name to his RED Valentino collection. I am not wearing a Valentine dress, but this liquid silk satin frock and red satin pumps give suitable homage to Valentino red.

An even less prestigious source than English nursery rhymes, these unforgettable lyrics come from Warrant! 

She's my cherry pie 
Cool drink of water
Such a sweet surprise 
Tastes so good 
Make a grown man cry 
Sweet cherry pie oh yea
She's my cherry pie 
Put a smile on your face 
Ten miles wide 
Looks so good 
Bring a tear to your eye 
Sweet cherry pie ...

I am wearing a vintage 50s red velvet bandeau draped in cherries, and a cherry print cardigan I picked up a few weeks ago at the Geelong Mill Market.

I have lost count of the times strangers in the street have passed remarks about Little Red Riding Hood when I have worn this vintage coat, but the best version of this passé joke was one of my work colleagues, who, learning I had a date in the evening, asked if I was dating a wolf.

In some of the earliest versions of the folkloric story, the little girl is merely wearing a red cap – although there does not seem to be any significance in it being red. My cashmere coat of course is hoodless, but it certainly resembles a cape with its wide sleeves. The fur trim only adds to the fairytale aspect. The coat is German-made, although I am uncertain of its age.

The phrase 'wearing one's heart on one's sleeve' usually describes the lovelorn who unashamedly avows his or her feelings – apt enough for Valentine's Day, although some may prefer to express their feelings anonymously. The phrase may derive from the customs at jousting matches during the Middle Ages. Knights are said to have worn the colours of the lady they were supporting, in cloths or ribbons tied to their arms.

The term doesn't date from that period however, and is first recorded in Shakespeare's Othello, 1604. In the play, the treacherous Iago's plan was to feign openness and vulnerability in order to appear faithful.

Who doesn't love a cherry? There must be something wrong with you if you don't!  Life is, after all, a bowl of cherries, and a cherry on top is the crowning touch that makes something already delicious even more special.

This outfit is a confection from tip to toe. The heels are a glorious patent red leather finished with a bow on the side, the silk tiered skirt scattered all over with appliqued black velvet hearts is a vintage 1920s costume piece, and the silk blouse features split butterfly sleeves that flutter deliciously enough, The finishing touch is an enormous pompom headband that I made from various yarns, including chenille, and it is super-soft. 

Let's skate over the infelicitous origin of the phrase 'the scarlet woman' and skip straight to the colour itself. Scarlet is a slightly more orange tinge than true red. Red is associated with courage, force, passion, heat, and joy – as well as more negative emotions such as anger and hatred.

It has also been associated with immorality and sin, and with war because of the latter's association with the Greek god of war, Mars.

In China it symbolises fire, and is associated with weddings, while in Japan red denotes a heroic figure. In the Ottoman empire, the Turks carried flags of red, designating the sovereignty of their Sultan. In Russia, red gave its colour to the revolutionist flags, although the Russian word for red is similar to the word meaning 'beautiful'.

I have always loved red because it is a happy colour. It is vivid, bright, and the very notion of a new pair of red shoes makes me want to jump for joy like a little girl again!

Happy Valentine's Day Snapettes!