The eminent connoisseur of fashion called the colors in clothes that absolutely can not be worn

– If we are talking about spring, about May Day, then this, of course, is flax, – says Victoria. He is a real living tissue, the so-called breathable, and everywhere, regardless of the territory. But I note that we are talking about white linen, which only wealthy, noble people allowed themselves, since well-dressed and bleached linen is an expensive thing.

— Has it always been like this?

– Of course, in Russia, in Europe – it doesn’t matter where. All Egyptian pharaohs wore transparent linen – the fabric was called fine linen. The body shone through the linen matting, and its value depended on the dressing. And then it turns out that the color of flax is a sign of the high social status of a person who wore such clothes. And it was the same in Russia. Linen has a rich color gradation – from yellowish to snow-white. And white … there is its own color magic.

– Why?

“Because people wear white during the transitional period of their lives, when, during the transition from one stage to another, the border becomes so thin that it begins to shine through like a fabric. And only two fabrics give this – linen and cambric, through which the body shines through. So the moment of transition is only white, which supports the moment of transition itself.

By the way, in Russia, children under 8 years old and the elderly wore white clothes with a minimum of embellishment or without it at all. Just a few days before the wedding, the bride walked, when she seemed to be dying for her family. And recruits a couple of days before being sent to war also dressed in white.

– Has such a traditional commitment to a certain color scheme remained or gone forever?

I would say that it continues. And now everyone is getting white linen things out of the closets. White color is absolutely magical. Please note that even the glossy “cap” of the Easter cake is also white. In the Bible, the color is white all the time: the flowers growing in the Garden of Eden are most often white, they are watered with the tears of a virgin. Jesus says, “If your sins are like scarlet, then I will make them as white as wool! They will be white as snow… I will wash you white like wool.”

– How interesting, we started the conversation with earthly, quite material things: what to wear according to the season, but went straight to serious philosophical generalizations.

The alternative to white is red. The whole bright range of colors, which warmly begins to appear on the streets, is a symbol of rebirth and hope for life. Everything about red is associated with life, as much as it is associated with death. This ambivalence of red has a magical effect on those who look at it and those who walk in it. Let’s say people come to the theater, to a performance, and on the stage all the artists are in red. The audience is under pressure. If the heart muscle is weak, a person can have a heart attack – just from a red energy strike.

– I’m not kidding?

— Not at all. Before placing a person in the red room, you need to ask him if there are any problems with the heart? From a sharp jump in pressure, he can even die.

“That’s how you put on a little thing and you don’t suspect that you are taking a risk. How many, however, the secrets of different colors …

“Therefore, when the leaders in fashion begin to dictate: “Yellow is in fashion this season,” one should be wary – yellow is a very dangerous color. For example, exhibitions were held in different countries more than once, in which people with a confirmed diagnosis of schizophrenia participated. Everyone who is in a state of seasonal exacerbation will take only two from boxes of paints – cobalt blue and strontium yellow. They paint everything in blue and yellow – faces, grass, buildings – it doesn’t matter what.

Van Gogh, painted his “Night Cafe” at the time of exacerbation of schizophrenia. Therefore, when we, under the influence of fashion, put on yellow, we do not know what we are doing, we do not understand what dangers we bring upon ourselves. Or it is well understood by those who dictate to us and impose it.

– I wonder how much before the revolution a summer-spring exit in a linen suit cost?

– It depends on how you count: you can in bottles of champagne, when a bottle of good French champagne cost 15 rubles. You can in cows – it cost 60 rubles. So for two cows you could get a linen, as they say, linen, output. The same is true for men: the high cost of fabrics also applied to men’s suits – linen, natural silk, silk flakes. If we are talking about white, it will be very expensive. And if about the yellowish linen in which the peasants walked, then it will come out many times cheaper.

– If I understand correctly, spring has come – we dress in white and red?

– Yes, and this is all the more suitable for us, because now we are all in a difficult period of life. And for the transitional period, white is ideal. Moreover, white is also considered the color of invisibility, based on the fact that snow-white is the sum of all the colors that have dissolved in it. Same as in black. In both, all colors have died. Therefore, black for spring is canceled primarily as the color of mourning. Although … after all, earlier in Eastern religions, white was considered the color of mourning.

– You can remember the May Day postcards from the times of the USSR: there young men and girls are all in white, all inspired and happy.

– Let’s remember Grigory Alexandrov’s film “Circus” with Lyubov Orlova in the title role. In the Red Square finals, everyone walks in orderly rows in white sweaters, tight skirts and trousers. There is a stunning triumph of white, which is almost associated with paradise. Just like red.

That is why only in two countries – China and Russia, which became the Soviet Union, red did not reject? If in China it was considered a sign of rebirth, wealth and a bright future, then in pre-revolutionary Russia it was associated with Easter joy, when red Easter clothes and red eggs appear after Lent. And then this red is perceived both as Easter and as a rebirth to life, and not something bloody.

It was later that the communists explained the abundance of red banners by the fact that this is the color of blood shed on the barricades of the revolution. And the “bloody” flags did not raise objections from anyone.

– White ideology against the background of red flags – was it consciously done by artists or creative intuition?

– I think it’s deliberate. People who manipulate those who order clothes for them understand the power of color effects on the human psyche. This is the calculation – and the calculation is correct. If at the sight of marching beauties and beauties in white under red flags your mood rises and serotonin is released, you find yourself in a stream of happiness. So, this is nothing but a wonderful manipulation.

In the movie “Circus”, even Orlova’s dance on the cannon, in a suit with lilac and purple sequins, gives a radiance, as if she were in a diamond suit. Even in a black-and-white film, the audience in their imagination perfectly completed this picture. And, of course, the ingenious solution of Orlova’s dress in the finale: at the parade it is white, chiffon, everything is fluttering. 30 meters of chiffon, bourgeois chic, as they say. And laconic snow-white sweaters and trousers on the extras are just a brilliant design solution.

— Do artists now understand such things, are they able to apply them?

— Now, unfortunately, this is not taught, and the artists themselves do not understand the extent of their responsibility. If there are a thousand people sitting in the hall, then it is important how you respond with color to their state of health. I’m not talking about the manipulation of their mental state. Any color effect can be both therapeutically beneficial and deadly.

Let’s say the strongest effect, as I said, has a red color. It has been used lately in the theater as a dominant, as a turning point in the series of events. Everything works in red, and it’s not just that.

We see how in abundance of gray and black color on the stage or screen, suddenly a red scarf takes off, like Somerset Maugham in the novel “Theater”. There, Julia Lambert suddenly takes out a red scarf, concentrates all the attention of the audience on herself and removes her rival in such an elegant way.

Many performances are made in the style of the circus, however, overloading it with contrasting colors. Because when black long coats, white faces and red noses, the instantly hilarious spectacle becomes the horror movie The Clowns Are Coming. It seems that there is a very thin line between plus and minus, but the artist’s responsibility is growing so much that it’s time to take the Hippocratic oath – do no harm to the thousand spectators who came to watch your work. And by paying money for it.

– Times are tough. What color to use?

In any case, avoid gray and black tones. In them, I will be unfailingly elegant and merge with the masses. And now it is not necessary to merge with the masses. You need to wear more white, more natural, simply because that is what turns on stealth mode. That is, you give a positive moment, and no one focuses their attention on you. In white, even the style is not important – it is not visible, there is only a color sensation. And if it is a translucent fabric, the body appears there, and this is life.

Therefore, we wear white, translucent, lace, everything that used to be called country fashion. Today it must be taken and taken. Do not be shy about long skirts, remove trousers. Give everything that gives a flying, free and sun-reflecting image. Today, it is especially important for us to reflect the sun so as not to get hit.