Have you ever wondered why Judas Iscariot is most often depicted with ginger hair? Why people sometimes say that someone turned green with envy? Or why in France books with pornographic content used to be wrapped with yellow cover for warning? The answers to the above questions and many others relating to the history and meaning of colours can be found in Kunstmuseum in The Hague, http://www.kunstmuseum.nl , where you can enjoy their recently opened exhibition titled “Fashion in Colour'”. It was launched on 26th September and will be on show till 28th February 2021.
The exhibition is arranged in very simple but efficient way. One room is dedicated to one colour, with the exception of yellow, red and orange that share one large room together, which is very logical given that red and yellow mixed result with orange.
All seven colours of the rainbow are presented plus black, white and brown, each respectively described regarding its changing meaning throughout history of art and history of fashion, with intriguing stories of how pigments were produced in the past and which fabric dying techniques were known. The oldest dying methods, we learn, used plants, minerals and insects as colouring agents and they were usually very expensive to get.
According to the Encyclopedia Britannica colour is “the aspect of any object that may be described in terms of hue, lightness and saturation. In physics, colour is associated specifically with electromagnetic radiation of a certain range of wavelengths visible to human eye”. Another words, colour not only as an aesthetic quality but as a scientific phenomenon. In 1666 Isaac Newton discovered the colour spectrum and divided it into seven colours of the rainbow – I was reminded about that fact at the very entrance to the exhibition. Why seven? Because it is a good number in Christian tradition, reflecting seven days of the week in which creation of the world was completed.
The message you receive as you proceed through rooms full of beautiful dresses, gowns and hats, both antic and modern, is that symbolic meaning was not attached to one colour once and for all. It evolved through time, being influenced by economy, emerging social and religious movements or improved dying technologies. To make things even more confusing, perception of symbolic meaning of a colour can be different in different cultures. Sometimes symbolic nuances might be impossible for us to read today because historic or culture context is not known to us any more.
Take red for example. It is strongly associated with the colour of blood. That is why it symbolises danger, passion, eroticism, fire, sometimes evil. Even today it is often attributed to prostitution. What’s on your mind when you see red underwear? At the same time red has been a colour of royalty for centuries. The reason it was so popular amongst the royals was the price tag. It was very costly to produce. Many shades of red were thus reserved for the rich and noble as only they could afford them. In a way it was also a continuation of Roman tradition where wearing red, carmine or crimson was the privilege of nobility. It is this imperial and royal connection that made red a symbol of power. Many communist regimes relay strongly on red in their visual symbols, not because they aspire to royal courts but because they want to be seen as powerful. But… red is very vibrant and energetic, red heart means love. In India and China brides dress in red on their wedding day because in Eastern cultures red symbolises vitality and happiness.
Or green. For us an innocent colour of nature, known for its destressing and calming properties, closely associated with ecological movements. Symbol of hope. Green has similarly positive connotations for Muslims for whom it is a colour of heavenly garden they hope to get to in afterlife, the colour of hope and wealth. That is why green is visible on national flags of countries where Islam is a dominating religion. However, for some reason that is not quite clear for us today, in the Middle Ages green was seen as poisonous, the colour of witches, envy, disease and evil.
The most humble of them all is brown and it is relatively recently that it made its way to the catwalks and fashion magazines. My grandmother never approved of brown clothes considering them totally tasteless and appropriate only for dirty jobs. As I learnt many years later, her opinion was deeply anchored in Greek antiquity. James Laver, one of the most acclaimed fashion historians, wrote that people of the lower classes in Athens dyed their clothes reddish brown, that was the only dye they could afford. According to historian Herodotus, quoted by Laver, the authorities of Athens produced a decree forbidding the poor to appear in their brownish clothes at the theatres and other public spaces. One interpretation says it was because of hygienic concerns – brown can easily hide dirt. But it could also be that the privilege of wearing bright colours was reserved for the rich. A trait that survived well into Middle Ages when nobility’s fashion sparkled with colours while peasants wore whites, greys, beiges and browns since their clothes were made of undyed wools and linens. Interestingly, that palette is considered very classy and elegant nowadays while bright colours are not always seen that way. How times change!
The privilege to wear colourful clothes did not come only with social status but sometimes also with age. Namely, young age. Diane Owen Hughs from the University of Michigan in her works “Regulating Female Fashion” and “Sumptuary Law and Social Relations in Renaissance Italy” reminds that in 1638 authorities of Florence passed a regulation obliging women to abandon colourful clothes after first six years of marriage. After that time when bright fashion could legally support sexual attraction of the spouses and tighten marital ties, wives of Florentine nobles had to pick up black dresses, possibly adorned with more colourful sleeves, corsets or collars. Those however had to be given up and replaced with total black after the following six years of marriage when productive sexuality and fertility were very likely over. Hmm… it wasn’t that long ago when older ladies, no matter what social status, married or widowed, were expected to wear black, grey, brown or plum. Possibly beige on a hot day. Anything else would be seen as an unnecessary extravagance.
There were times in history when coloured clothes were very popular, for example in ancient Greece and Rome (although it used to be thought that Greeks and Romans dressed only in white and cream. Not true.) or in the Middle Ages. There were also times when colourful fashion was largely disapproved or even condemned, like in 16th century ultra catholic Spain or in societies where many people converted to calvinism. For them the only acceptable colour was black with very few white accents. By the way, black was a very expensive dye too! Wearing black was dictated by certain beliefs regarding morality and decency but it did not save you any money.
Portrait of a lady by Juan Pentoya da la Cruz, 1600-07 
Portrait of Philip IV by Diego Velazquez, 1623-28
It was only in 19th century when much cheaper synthetic dyes were invented making colourful clothes more affordable. Colours became brighter, stronger and more durable. The exhibition presents beautiful dresses in “electric blue”, “Scheele’s green”, names after its inventor, fuchsia or purple that was not royal anymore.
There is however a dark side of synthetic dyes – they use huge amount of water that cannot be recycled in any way. Nowadays, when fashion industry is expected to catch up with protecting resources and with sustainability there are discussions about going back to natural pigments used in the past. Would that work? Would us, consumers accept pale tones, more pastel palette and the fact that our clothes fade away with washing since we use chemical detergents unknown in the past?
The exhibition in Kunstmuseum is not only very informative in terms of history of fashion and history of colours. It is also visually very attractive. Most of presented garments are from Museum’s own collection and it would be unfair not to mention fantastic lighting that enhances beauty of the objects on show. As mentioned earlier, Isaac Newton divided light spectrum into seven colours but there are much more of them. In between the “Big Seven” there are areas where two colours meet and melt together. Those are reflected on the walls of the exhibition. Especially in the last room where violet blurs into blue then into indigo finally becoming a shade of green the effect is quite spectacular.
Originally this autumn the Kunstmuseum planned to present the exhibition dedicated to Christian Dior’s designs. Due to pandemic regulations and the fact that only a limited number of visitors is allowed at a time, Dior was postponed till October 2021 and “Fashion in Colour” was quickly put together instead. For me, although unexpected, it was five star museum experience and I might go back to see it once more when we are allowed to travel to The Hague again.
I learned a lot ! You are very interesting to read !!!