The Power of Red: Tall Tales and Shoe Love Stories in Real Life
Red is a colour that signifies power for some and love for others
A writer got me thinking about red today. Red is the colour of love. We paint out a red heart to show our love for someone, and avoid the red heart emoji ( the heart emoji being a relatively new social signal now prevalent in messaging signage) when messaging friends so as not to overpower them with amour.
Red is said to be a power colour. If you want to be successful or make a lasting impression, wear red. Funny, but I have never heard anyone aim that suggestion at a man, nor seen a male politician in red. I was going to write the word ‘people’ here, but it would be inaccurate.
It is definitely women who do not shrink away from red and often wear red to stand out from the crowd. I have seen many women of power making an entrance in red. However, I am not sure whether this is predominantly a UK thing.
Several UK political figures come to mind when thinking about the colour red, Theresa May, Nicola Sturgeon and Boris Johnson’s wife have all been photographed in red in recent years.
Researching further, I have discovered that October 23rd is wear red day in the UK. If you do this you’ll be making a stand against racism. [1]
October is a time when you may see men in red. What a change that is. I like colour and think it makes a change from drab greys and browns. Although I used to love brown in my twenties.
February 2nd, however, was Go Red Day, a day to raise awareness of the prevalence of heart disease by wearing red. (Heart disease is reported as the highest killer of women.) On the British Heart Foundation Website it is reported that ‘someone dies from heart or circulatory condition every 3 minutes’. [2]
In the UK, February is heart month, according to the British Heart Foundation; a whole month of wearing red dedicated to fighting heart disease.
Https://bhf.org (The link takes you out of Medium.) [3]
Red is what artists call a warm colour. Warm colours are said to come forward and cool colours fade in artistic language. So perhaps there is a subtle change in perception when we see red; I am writing literally, here. ‘Seeing red’ used to be a metaphor for being angry, or losing our tempers here in the UK. I wonder how that phrase translates to other languages.
Julia Brucculieri reports that in a study men found women who wore red ‘more desirable’. (The link takes you out of Medium.) [4]
Do you enjoy communicating through colour?
But, what of red shoes?
Have you ever thought about the power a particular pair of shoes has to change your mood and make you feel on top of the world?
Torvah Rainsong has. This writer has woven a wonderful story all about the way shoes create powerful changes in mood for ‘Shoe Love Mag’. It is a great read.
Torvah’s story reminds me of my own power shoe story all about 2 pairs of red shoes, which I will share with you next time on ‘Shoe Love Mag'.
My small publication is accepting writers. Do you have a tall shoe tale? Want to write for ‘Shoe Love Mag’? Read this first.
References:
[1.] The Red Card.org accessed February 6th, 2024
[2.] Https://bhf.org, accessed February 6th, 2024
[3.] Julia Brucculieri, Huffington Post, 13th, February, 2018
[4.] Torvah Rainsong, ‘Shoe Love Mag’, Medium, February, 2024