Historically, red has been the color of passion, power, and dominance. Noble women began discovering its seductive and attention-gripping power between the 13th and 16th centuries, when Venetian merchants were importing sumptuous Polish cochineal-dyed cloths from the Middle East.
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Famous for his romantic exploits as he was, Giacomo Casanova was also among the first fashion aficionados of his time.
His memoirs reflect and discuss the different female attires at that time and the subtle messages they conveyed.
Casanova was particularly fond of long red dresses, which clearly stated the wearer’s high social status.
At the turn of the 20th century, Sigmund Freud associated red dresses with passion, desire, and sexual attraction. In Freud’s view, red is a bold, sensual color evoking intense, intimate desire.
Red is almost an instant turn-on for men because, in Freud’s mind, it is associated with the vagina and conveys subconscious messages of reproductive potential.
Clara Bow, Ruth Roland, and Louise Brooks were the femmes fatales on the silver screen during the Roaring Twenties.
Professional dancer Brooks had the sexiest bedroom eyes of the three. The term, used to describe a sexually inviting gaze or look, originated just at that time.
Brooks taunted bias-cut and slim-silhouette red dresses around the cabaret clubs in Paris and New York. Their design and below-the-knee length highlighted her slender frame.
According to psychologist Andrew J Elliot, women in red appear more sexually desirable to men, as if the color shouts, “Stop and look at me!”
Marilyn Monroe (1926-1962), who put the blonde bombshell image on the silver screen, had several head-spinning red dress appearances.
In 1953, she provoked male viewers with a bubblegum-pink William Travilla sheath during her memorable “Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend” performance in Howard Hawks’s musical comedy Gentlemen Prefer Blondes.
The “Bus Stop” red dress she wore three years later in Joshua Logan’s romantic comedy was again designed by William Travilla to underline her feminine curves.
Who could have imagined Monroe’s sultry performance at President Kennedy’s 45th birthday would be her swan song? The glamorous Madison Square Garden party was on May 19, 1962, and Marylin passed away on August 4.
She sang Happy Birthday, Mr. President in a Jean Louis red dress ornate with 4,000 rhinestones. The extravagant garment had no zipper or buttons, so Monroe had to be sewn into it.
As security agent Alice, Milla Jovovich wears an asymmetrical top in Paul W.S. Anderson’s action horror film Resident Evil (2002).
Millions of men worldwide took to the theatres in the weeks following the film’s premiere to feast their eyes on Jovovich’s dealing expert high-kicks, elbows, and jabs to heinous zombies in that iconic dress. The garment triggered instant romantic attraction in the male audience, asserting the wearer’s femininity augmented by courage and bravery, which 28% of survey respondents associate the color red with.
Japanese actress and singer Anna Sawai gripped the attention with her custom Vera Wang red gown that gave her a mermaid look.
Sawai and designer Vera Wang took a significant risk exploiting the imperial power of the color red, but the gamble certainly paid off.
It’s worth noting that Anna’s apparel was the only one in red among Vogue’s top 50 red carpet outfits in the 2020s.
Conclusion
Red dresses are historically associated with romantic attraction because they convey a wide range of direct and indirect messages.
The bedroom-eyed beauties of the Jazz Age promised sensual pleasures in their richly decorated red outfits.
Marilyn’s show-stopping red garments asserted the image of the naive bombshell of the 1950s, while Jovovich’s zombie-killing red top defined the powerful young woman of the 2000s.
Red dresses have also secured a place among the 50 most popular red carpet outfits in the 2020s. Red was also a popular color on runways throughout 2024.
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