Fashion in Art Through the Ages

Color has always been a key component in art: it is used to portray significance and
hidden meanings throughout the ages. An artists choice of color in a painting or sculpture plays
a crucial role in the interpretation of their creation. This is also true of fashion, and how the
usage of colored clothing in art changes or enhances the overall meaning of a painting or
sculpture. This essay will explore meanings and artistic examples of the colors red, blue, white,
and purple, and how to interpret fashion in artwork that utilizes these colors.
Artists use color to portray feeling and emotion through their work. In that, the extent of
color used in each piece of work is placed there for a reason and has a direct purpose and
meaning. Colors symbolize multiple things and have multiple meanings behind them. Color
symbolism is the use of color as a representation or meaning of something that is usually
specific to a particular culture or society. Red is a dominate color seen in many of the paintings
throughout the semester. Red through its association with fire and blood is used to represent
danger, anger and violence. For the same reason it is also associated with affairs of the heart:
love and passion (Color Theory Lessons). The color red is associated with both love and war.
Throughout fashion and clothing in art, that same theme is found in the characters clothing in
the different pieces.
For example, The Annunciation by Leonardo Da Vinci features the Virgin Mary seated in
her enclosed garden with the angel Gabriel coming to her with good news. The red in his gown
could have many different meanings. It signifies being of high social status, power, authority, and
the blood of Christ. It is supposed that Leonardo originally copied the wings from those of a bird

in flight. Next, Mary can be seen sitting at a lector, reading from the book of Isaiah. The Virgin is
depicted in a flowing extravagant blue and red dress. The blue in her dress represents tranquility
and purity. The colors in her dress were chosen with purpose and symbolize a very important
theme. In Christianity, blue is heavenly and red is earthy. This unites the divine partnership of
Christ, the son of the Heavenly God, coming to earth. Her dress is flowing and intricate. Her
flowing gown is so immense, which represents the child she is about to bear. The fact that there
is so much of her dress could represent that Christ, who soon will be born, is going to do much
on earth.
To continue, The Virgin and Child with Chancellor Rolin by Jan Van Eyck is a good
representation of the color red. The virgins ample red coat is trimmed with a rich border of
braid, pearls and precious stones. Red is the color of power as well as the presence of the Holy
Sprit and the presence of God, appropriate within this context. The gold lining, representing the
heavens, contains a subtle inscription, elevata and exaltata. Her cloaks color and inscription
describe the hieratic position as a symbol of wisdom - a familiar theme in Romanesque art. The
red that the virgin is wearing relates to the theme that is mentioned in the previous paragraph. In
this case, it represents power and authority first hand. But its main intention is to relate and
emphasize the shedding of Christs blood. This is important, because Christ is seen on Marys
lap in the painting. This shows that Christ is the main emphasis of this piece.
Finally, in the Adoration of the Magi there are many wise men coming to bear the
newborn Jesus with gifts. The wise men are dressed like kings, in red and purple. Red is a color
associated to kings during this time; it represented wealth, riches and kingly virtues. Although

the color red represents wealth and riches, it has another meaning. For instance, Marys cloak is
almost always the color blue, and is used to emphasize her humanity, purity, and tranquility. She
is also wearing a red dress underneath the blue cloak, which some say symbolizes her divine
nature, and others say it is a symbol of the blood that is to be spilled for our sins. It is also very
important to note that this is a painting of religious subject matter, but they are not dressed in
clothing of their time. They are dressed in the traditional Renaissance fashions and styles of the
time in which this was painted. Overall, the color has many meanings through fashion in art. Red
is a powerful color, especially related to religious art. It is important to know the meaning behind
these colors. Being able to interpret art pieces with the knowledge of the specific color in relation
to fashion and clothing allow a better understanding of the piece as a whole.
Blue is an overwhelmingly favorite color these days. It is heavily present in nature, the
sky and the ocean, which are massive and often perceived as constant. The common
perception of blue is that of calm, yet an increase or decrease of hue and intensity can
dramatically change the meaning. Electric or bright hues of blue communicate dynamism and
drama. Darker hues, such as indigo symbolize wisdom and spiritual realization. Being a primary
color, blue can be used to create almost any other color.
Before art was created to evoke emotions, colors and symbols were used to represent
ideas, usually of the church or state. During the high renaissance, deep blue was one of the
costliest pigments and its use was saved for figures of high stature (Education at the Getty).
One common use of blue in renaissance art is with the depiction of the Virgin Mary. She is
famous for donning a blue robe in the majority of her depictions. Popular paintings of her include

Botticellis Madonna of the Pomegranate, Parmigianinos Madonna with the Long Neck, da
Vincis Annunciation, Botticellis Adoration of the Magi, and the list goes on and on. In each of
these she is wearing a long, draping blue cloak that is elegant and meaningful. Its color, blue,
represents purity, the virgin birth, and was often a color of royalty (Madonna of the Book).
Besides her purity, blue is the only color, according to color psychologists, compared to
red, green, and yellow, that is heteronomous (passive and allowing of others to perform an
action) and concentric (looking inward) (Q&A-Blue). The choice of blue comes from Marys
response to the guardian angel when she was told she would bear a divine child. Her response
was heteronomous, let it be done to me according to thy Word, and concentric, My soul
magnifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my savior! She didnt find meaning not so
much from herself and receiving the Lord (or else shed wear yellow), but rather humbling her
own soul (Q&A-Blue).
White usually brings about feelings and thoughts of being clean, pure, and natural.
Psychologically, it is proven to aid mental clarity, encourage us to clear clutter, and evokes
purification of thoughts or actions (Kate Smith, 2015). This plays into the way that artists use the
color white in clothing and fashion to depict different ideas and meanings. The most common
theme related to white in fashion is purity in women and chastity in men (Mary Johnson-Gerard).
In the bible, white represents the color of light and is an emblem of the divine, which correlates
the subject with and idea that is holy and pure. Jonathan Milne states, White covers a multitude
of sins. It commonly represents a new beginning and an essence of innocence, but there are

always exceptions. These exceptions include representations of sexual desire or being sexually
suggestive.
An excellent example of this is found in neoclassical artist Jean Auguste Dominiques
piece, Mademoiselle Caroline Rivire. It was common during this time for royalty to want their
portrait to be done, to have something that would outlast their lifetime to be remembered by. The
mademoiselle would have been between 13 and 15 at the time she was portrayed in this
painting; Ingres describes her as the ravishing daughter. She may or may not have been this
young when the portrait was done, but the was the portrait describes her is slightly built, but still
youthful and feminine. The light white colors used represent a freshness that was intended to
reflect the youth of the girl. Although at first glance you could think that the Mademoiselle was
being portrayed symbolizing purity and innocence, perhaps there was a more sexual and
suggestive undertone in the work as well. The whiteness of her dress contrasts with the curve of
her body, and actually offended some viewers. Art critic Jonathan Jones explains this further,
The sexuality Ingres usually reserved for harem fantasies slips over into the real and
respectable world in this charged portrait. His obviously intense visual
relationship with
fetishism, at Mademoiselle

his subject and his contentment to look, with a clinical waxy

Rivire's full lips, bared neck, long gloves and

spectacularly serpentine boa, lend this

picture drama.

He painted this portrait of an adolescent, actually the only one he ever painted, with all the
sensuality of his portraits of adult women. The color of this portrait creates a clarity, which is

enhanced by the girls ebony black hair and mustard brown gloves, which contrast the white in
her dress. Here, white represents youth, beauty, and possibly an undertone of sensuality.
Another piece that can be discussed is Birth of Liquid Desires by Salvador Dali. This is a
very interesting and thought-provoking piece, which causes the viewer to call into question every
element and what each could mean. Although this piece is different and progressive, dress and
fashion (or lack there of) in this is important. Dal was a Surrealist and formulated his own
paranoid-critical approach to art, which consisted in conveying his deepest psychological
conflicts to the viewer in order to get an empathetic response. The clothing and lack there of all
represent different messages throughout the piece. The overall message of this piece is
sexuality and sexual desire. The woman in the center of the piece, Gala, is wearing a tight fitted
white dress. It can be imagined that it is some sort of wedding dress. The color white is used in
both of the female characters in this piece. They both are portrayed in a white dress, however
the color does not mean the same for both of the characters. The white fitted dress of the
woman in the center is seen as sexual and seductive, while the woman to the sides white dress
is represented as pure and innocent. The color white usually is portrayed in a pure light, but Dal
intended for the painting to be sexual.
To contrast the two pieces that allude to sexual desire, a piece in which white represents
purity is Madonna with the Long Neck, by Parmigianino. This piece was painting during the
Counter-Reformation and depicts the Virgin Mary seated, with an oversized baby Jesus
sprawled across her lap. Marys clothing is interesting in this painting because it more closely
reflects flowing styles of Roman robes, rather than typical Renaissance clothing. This makes

sense because the Renaissance is the rebirth of classic styles and ideals. Her main gown is
thin, white, and flowing, reminiscent of a Greek subligaculum, the main under gown a woman
would have worn in classic fashion. The white of her inner garment represents her purity, as she
was a virgin when she immaculately conceived the Christ child. Her headpiece of pearls
signifies her status but also uses the white pearls to again emphasize her purity. In this piece
the white is more subtle, but still informs the viewer about the characters and their importance in
the piece.
The color purple has a long and royal history in fashion, as it was one of the most
expensive colors to obtain for dying clothes. It is often called the color of kings. This is because
the lengthy, tedious process needed to produce this dye made it very expensive, so that often
only kings could afford clothing with this color. Tyrian purple was made with shells of creatures
that could only be found in the Mediterranean Sea. A description from Pliny about the making of
Tyrian purple is as follows. After the snails are fished from the sea, the dye-bearing vein is
extracted and crushed. For every hundred pounds of the juice, 20 ounces of salt are added, and
left for three days. It is then set to boil slowly in vessels of tin [or lead], to concentrate the dye,
for up to ten days. Then the cloth to be dyed is immersed into the boiling mixture. The boiling is
continued until the cloth is dyed to the satisfactory shade. Red shades are considered inferior to
blackish ones. Finally the cloth is left to soak until it has fully imbibed the color. In order to
create just 1.4 grams of this dye, 12,000 snails were needed.
If one was wealthy enough to purchase enough of this dye to saturate a garment, it was
likely that they were of royal blood. In fact, the emperors of Byzantium actually made a law that

only royalty could dawn this expensive dye. As a result, the color purple began to symbolize
royalty and status. Throughout Italy, this color symbolized specific status levels as well. For
example in Venice, purple was reserved for the royal Doges council only. They wore purple
vests. In Florence, the Medici family was notorious in fashion for their preference of purple
clothing. The status stigma of the color continued on through the Elizabethan Era (1558-1603),
where England was constricted by Sumptuary Laws that dictated what fashions, colors, and
clothes could be worn by each class of society. This advanced the royal affiliation because these
laws decreed that no one but royalty and those closely related to royalty were allowed to wear
the color. It wasnt until 1859 that purple became a more common color in fashion, due to a
young scientist named William Henry Perkins discovery of a synthetic way to dye clothe purple.
In The Virgin and Child with Chancellor Rolin, by Jan Van Eyck, the chancellors cushion
appears to be purple velvet. This is significant because the Chancellor, clad in brocade and
mink is a well-known, wealthy figure, as he held the highest office in State. The entire painting is
of a royal theme because the Christ child is present (King of Heaven) in addition to the Virgin
Mary. The wealth and divinity of the piece mingle to create a painting that warrants the use of a
royal color such as purple. This color could represent the social status of the Chancellor Rolin
as well as the royalty of the Christ Child and the Virgin Mary as they hold a royal position in the
church.
Portraits that represent royal figures wearing purple were painted in many countries.
Portrait of Elisabeth of France Frans II Pourbus is one that shows Queen Elisabeth clad in an
elaborate soft purple gown trimmed with ornate lace and gem, details. Her status is apparent by

the clothing the artist chose to paint her in. There are purple-clad Medici family members in
Botticellis Adoration of the Magi. As was mentioned previously, The Medici family had an affinity
with wearing the color purple, likely due to the status it held.
Fashion in art is a way to create hidden meanings as well as discover the context of a
particular setting. Styles are vast and the use of color in these styles greatly enhances the
meaning. Red and blue are often portrayed with significant characters like Christ or the Virgin
Mary representing, respectively, blood shed for our sins and tranquility and purity. White is
representative of innocence and purity, it is also used to represent the Virgin, Christ, or other
young characters. Lastly, purple clothing is representative of wealth and power. While fashion
has changed throughout the ages, the meaning of colors has not.

Works Cited
"Annunciation by Leonardo Da Vinci." 10 Apr. 2012. Web. 16 Apr. 2015.
<https://pureandlowly.wordpress.com/queen-of-heaven/167-2/>.
"Color in Renaissance Painting (Education at the Getty)." Color in Renaissance Painting
(Education at the Getty). Web. 16 Apr. 2015.
<http://www.getty.edu/education/kids_families/do_at_home/artscoops/color_renaissance.
html>.
"Color Meanings | Color Symbolism | Meaning of Colors." Art Therapy. 6 Feb. 2011.
Web. 16 Apr. 2015. <http://www.arttherapyblog.com/online/color-meaningssymbolism/#.VS_Z6BOUf1o>.
"Color Theory Lessons - Color as Symbol." Color Theory Lessons - Color as Symbol.
Web. 16 Apr. 2015.
<http://www.artyfactory.com/color_theory/color_theory_2.htm>.

"Color White: Psychology, Symbolism & Meaning - Sensational Color."Sensational Color.

31 Dec. 2012. Web. 16 Apr. 2015. <http://www.sensationalcolor.com/colormeaning/color-meaning-symbolism-psychology/all-about-the-color-white4369#.VS5sZmTLdhM>.
"History & Future - Tyrian Purple: The Colour of Kings." History & Future - Tyrian Purple:
The Colour of Kings. Web. 16 Apr. 2015.
<http://humantouchofchemistry.com/tyrian-purple-the-colour-of-kings.htm>.
Johnson-Gerard, Ph.D. "Renaissance Clothing Colors." EHow. Demand Media, 12 Apr.
2011. Web. 16 Apr. 2015. <http://www.ehow.com/info_8209852_renaissanceclothing-colors.html>.
"Leonardo Da Vinci." The Annunciation. Web. 16 Apr. 2015.
<http://www.leonardodavinci.net/the-annunciation.jsp#prettyPhoto>.
"Madonna of the Book." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation. Web. 16 Apr. 2015.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madonna_of_the_Book>.
Melina, By. "Why Is the Color Purple Associated With Royalty?" LiveScience. TechMedia
Network, 3 June 2011. Web. 16 Apr. 2015. <http://www.livescience.com/33324purple-royal-color.html>.
"Q&A-Blue." Q&A. Web. 16 Apr. 2015. <http://www.colormatters.com/q-and-a/qacolors/qa-blue>.
"Renaissance Clothing." : The Meaning of Renaissance and Medieval Clothing Colors.
Web. 16 Apr. 2015. <http://renaissanceclothing.blogspot.it/2011/02/meaning-ofrenaissance-and-medieval.html>.
"Renaissance Fashion." Italian. Web. 16 Apr. 2015. <http://www.renaissancespell.com/Renaissance-Fashion.html>.
"Sandro Botticelli Adoration of the Maji (Del Lama Adoration)." Adoration of the Magi by
Sandro Botticelli. Web. 16 Apr. 2015.
<http://historylink101.com/art/Sandro_Botticelli/pages/04_Adoration_of_the_Magi
_jpg.htm>.
"The Greenwood Encyclopedia of Clothing Through World History: 1501-1800." Google
Books. Web. 16 Apr. 2015. <https://books.google.it/books?
id=S8bTzilz1BMC&pg=PA18&lpg=PA18&dq=purple medici

family&source=bl&ots=hyL8-6knNt&sig=36f4nH3b3xCOWlve96_EaFXbK4&hl=en&sa=X&ei=aeYvVb3JEMzTaKe3gagH&redir_esc=y#v=one
page&q=purple medici family&f=false>.
Tyrian Purple: The Color of Kings. The Human Touch of Chemistry. N.p. n.d. Web. 15
Apr. 2015.
"Web Gallery of Art, Image Collection, Virtual Museum, Searchable Database of
European Fine Arts (1000-1900)." Web Gallery of Art, Image Collection, Virtual
Museum, Searchable Database of European Fine Arts (1000-1900). Web. 16
Apr. 2015. <http://www.wga.hu/frames-e.html?/html/b/botticel/21/20adorat.html>.