DESIGNER COLORS

STAP 1

 Color harmony, preferences, symbolism, and other psychological aspects are culturally conditioned and vary with time and place. For instance, American and Japanese concepts of warm and cold colors are essentially the same. However, Japanese consider blues and greens good and the red-purple range bad, while Americans consider the red-yellow-green range good and oranges and red-purples bad. In the West, black signifies mourning; other cultures use white, purple, or gold.

STAPE 2

Orhan Kural says that societies tend to use colors that comply with their culture and belief: In Indonesia's Banggai Islands, people believe that their ancestors arrived in brown canoes. Their houses look like brown-painted canoes. They sacrifice a water buffalo and hang its head at their doors to make funerals more elaborate. During these rituals they wear red. Since the streets are filled with blood, red is dominant in their culture. In Mongolia, green is dominant. Mongolians has five times as many animals as people. I think they paint their tents and furniture green due to their love of animals and nature. In Guatemala, the Spanish invaders forced each clan to wear a different color in order to differentiate them. This seems to be welcomed and accepted by the people, for it remains in force. All women I saw in the bazaars wore the same color. The city of Varanasi in India and the sacred Ganj river reminds me of orange, and the Taj Mahal reminds me of white.

STAP3

Nevval Sevindi, who lived in Iran for some time, says that Iranians consider black to be holy and noble. According to her, Iranians and Westerners both see black as a symbol of mourning. Iranians use black to commemorate their Imams, and Westerners wear it at funerals and to commemorate their saints.

STAP 4

It seems that they are always mourning, since they keep Karbala' alive in their memories.2 Red is a color of disgrace in Iran. However in Turkey, China, and India, red is the color of weddings. In Turkey, the bride wears a red veil over her head on the eve of the wedding day and a red belt on the wedding day. Women wear a red ribbon after giving birth. Red means a new future and abundance. Turks do not consider black the color of mourning. They attend funerals in ordinary clothes, for death is an ordinary part of life. Africans and Asians like to wear many colors. I associate this with their living in bright and sunny countries and within nature. Sunlight affects their clothes and moods. Violet is the Byzantine Empire's color, for only the emperor wore it. This tradition continued after the emperor's death, for his grave was built with violet porphyry stones, says Sevindi.

STAP5

Tumulus-hillock excavations in Tekirdag, Turkey, reveal that Alexander the Great's father wore mostly purplish colors, like that of a judas-tree. Maybe this is why Byzantine emperors valued purple tones so much. Other researchers give different reasons. For instance, historian Haluk Dursun states: There is a belief in Christianity: Judas Iscariot, one of the 12 apostles of Jesus Christ, betrayed him at the Last Supper. Romans arrested and crucified Jesus. Judas, full of regret, hung himself from a tree full of white flowers. This tree felt so ashamed that it reddened. Hence it is called judas-tree. It also is said that the Byzantines recaptured Constantinople from Latin invaders when the judas-trees were blossoming, and so value this color.

STAP 6

Do religions have colors? Yes and no. Muslims favor green, as the covers of tombs and sarcophagus are green, and green is common in mosque decorations. Otherwise, Islam does not have its own color. Perhaps people associate green with Islam because Prophet Muhammad liked green, as it relaxes the eyes and connotes nature. In fact, he advised people to dress in plain and clean color-compliant clothes that would please the eye.

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