Waiting for 2011

Even if  PANTONE® has chosen18-2120 Honeysuckle as the color for 2011 (see my recent  post HERE) and you may like that pinkish red or not,  you may use it or not next year, I believe a true red is the color for this time of the year. Red is festive, represents energy, passion, strength, courage, or you could simply say that red is life. Color creates atmosphere in a house and around us and can influence our mood at times, red always makes a happy statement of energy and has the quality to get noticed each and every time.
Fabulous Interior designer Alessandra Branca has a blog Scoop du jour and recently she had a post called "Go red & go home!"  she often uses pure red in her interiors, as you can see even from a page of her book "New classic interiors".

Alessandra Branca

Alessandra Branca projects.

If you want to know more about Branca listen to the interview on the Skirted Roundtable, where she talks about her design philosophy  and her design style: "classic with a twist" always full of colors and, yes, particularly red.

Talking about RED how can I forget to mention a fashion designer known for his love of this hue to the point of giving his name to a particular shade of red?

The icon of Italian fashion, Valentino Garavani, started using red in the late '60s  and "rosso Valentino" is a mixture of carmine, cadmium and crimson that has become a trademark color adorning such cultural icons as Jackie O, Elizabeth Taylor and Princess Margaret and a countless number of famous actresses like Sophia Loren, Meryl Streep, Cate Blanchett.
“Red has guts…. deep, strong, dramatic. A geranium red. A Goya red…. to be used like gold for furnishing a house… for clothes, it is strong, like black and white” he said.“Women usually prefer to wear black at events because it makes them feel safe, however, if there’s one woman wearing red, she will inevitably be the eye-catcher of the evening. It’s as though the room is suddenly illuminated- simply perfect for a grand-entrance”.

Valentino and Benedikt Taschen at the launch of "Valentino" book in Beverly Hills, 2009

Valentino in his atelier, 1990

and finally where all this started...

A young Valentino in his atelier in Rome, in 1960...perhaps already dreaming of giving his name to a color?

Will you use red for the last party of the year?

Will you wear red on the first day of the New Year?

No matter what color you choose I wish you all a happy 2011

vibrant with love, passion, strength, courage and energy.

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