A Conversation with Keith Recker about the history behind this seductive color

Keith Recker, a International Folk Art Market board member, fashion insider, and founding editor of HandEye.

When the Santa Fe International Folk Art Market launches the evening of July 13 on Museum Hill, it’ll kick off with a visual bang. The opening night’s theme is “REDefine,” a dazzling celebration of all things red. “Red is automatically a party,” says Keith Recker, a International Folk Art Market board member, fashion insider, and founding editor of the quarterly arts magazine HandEye. “On the color spectrum, it’s a temperature raiser. It connotes fire and blood, which brings passion. But it also brings a basic sense of what humans need from the world: warmth, a hospitable place to be.”

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Recker would know. He co-wrote the book Pantone: The Twentieth Century in Color, a fascinating look at the cultural history of color through the last century. Hues go in and out of vogue based on a myriad of factors: current events, world politics, Hollywood celebrities, fashion, advertising, even cartoons. “It all goes into the soup,” says Recker.

Red had its big moment in the 1950s, when the country, free from the burden of war, was at its most optimistic. Cosmetic companies and big-screen sex symbols like Marilyn Monroe, Elizabeth Taylor, and Jane Mansfield brought the fiery, sultry hue into the mainstream. From the decade’s ruby jewelry to blazing Revlon lipstick and spangled dresses, “red was a gorgeous declaration of feminine sensuality.” By the 1960s, pink had eclipsed crimson as the color du jour, and the 70s were all about shaggy hair, earthy colors, and in Recker’s words, “too much suede fringe.” But by the time Melanie Griffith flaunted her power red business suit in the movie “Wall Street” in 1987, red was in the midst of a decade-long rebound that would only be supplanted by the minimalist basic black of the 90s.

Party decorations range from enormous crimson paper flowers to red lanterns and crimson Papier-mâché doves, and, not surprisingly, draw on a vibrant tradition of red from around the world.

But if the Market’s opening night party is any indication, red is once again back. “They say it’s the only color that sells in the United States,” says Recker, who notes that the latest shades include a strong orange influence. (Trend alert: The Pantone color of the year for 2012 is tangerine tango, according to Recker, who consults for the company.) Party decorations range from enormous crimson paper flowers to red lanterns and crimson Papier-mâché doves, and, not surprisingly, draw on a vibrant tradition of red from around the world. “In Asia, red is a celebration. In India, it’s worn by brides, and in China, it’s used to ring in the New Year,” he explains. And at its most universal, “it’s a blazing announcement that something exciting is going to happen.” Can there be any better color to ring in the Market?

—Katie Arnold

Award-winning travel writer, Arnold’s stories have appeared in Travel & Leisure, The New York Times and Sunset among other publications. She also writes a Raising Rippers column for OutsideOnline.com.