Rossella Migliaccio: «My new book, a celebration of colour»

When you think about Scarlett Migliaccioimmediately think of colors. Because thanks to his first book color matching, a real editorial case published by Vallardi in 2019, all of us have started to become confident with a chromatic universe never explored before: the word «palette» has entered our vocabulary and warm and cold hues have begun to have no more secrets for us, in fashion as in beauty. Precisely for this, after having explored the shapes of the female body with his other bestseller Shapes (Vallardi, 2020), today she returned to deepen her first great love: colors.

The new book by the founder of theItalian Image Institute is called COLORS The complete guide. A manual full of goodies and curiosities to be discovered. Inside you will find incredible research that has led her to catalog more than 250 colors with names (both in Italian and English), international codes (Pantone, RAL, NCS) and perfect combinations. But that’s not all, because for each color you will find, in pills, gems of history, costume, literature, cinema and much more.

We met her to tell us more.

In the introduction of the book you talk about the Platonic idea we have in colour: can you better explain what it is?
«Actually it is a more technical explanation than a philosophical one because we are talking about perception. For example: the two of us could talk for hours about the same color, but what our eyes will see is always very personal. Each of us has her own idea of ​​yellow, red, pink and no one is 100% definable. There are international codes that standardize it and try to discipline it, but it’s still all very personal».

Is there any color that, even today, is able to amaze you?
«The most beautiful colors, it seems trivial, are those of nature which in fact inspires the names of so many shades. Every time we are amazed by observing it, because it is capable of declining the same shade in millions of different shades. We define the cyclamen pinkbut who has ever seen two cyclamens of the same color?».

For whom did you imagine writing this new guide book?
«I imagined it for many categories: I believe it could also become a work tool for some sectors. I am thinking of the world of interior design, of jewelery (how beautiful are the colors of gems?), of fashion and make-up. Just recently, among other things, I opened a box on my Instagram profile (@rossellamigliaccio_) to ask my followers who they thought they were giving the book to and they wrote me a lot of unexpected replies! The most curious recipients? From the seamstress mother, to help her choose her combinations, to the pastry chef friend, for the colorful gourmet compositions. One even thought of giving it to the dentist to let him discover different types of white!».

Some colors have made the history of costume, so much so that they took the name of the designer who made them famous: from Armani greige to Valentino red. In your opinion, what was the strength of their language?
«In those years fashion was certainly considered in a less commercial way than it is now and for this reason, certain colors and collections had the power to become iconic. Garments capable of lasting over time were created and color also played its part in creating a concept of elegance. Today we are more in search of trends, and color is often used to produce super-fashionable but momentary desires».

There are also colors that characterize an entire generation, such as the Millenial Pink which she mentions in the book.
«Yes, because the latest generations are generations in color. Let’s think of social media: color wins and gets more likes, colorfull images and posts have more engagement. Black & white is definitely elegant but it’s too introspective. We need to linger longer and we are now used to scrolling quickly and, thanks to colour, we receive more information, capable of making us understand the message. On social media, for example, we can say that black & white has been replaced by shades of beige».

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Let’s go back to the Millennial Pink, that it made us understand how everything is connected: fashion, cinema, design, art. Let’s think of Wes Anderson’s palette of his Grand Budapest Hotel, the design of the Northern countries, Scandi-style fashion, for example.
«Cinematographically, color creates atmospheres. In many films he is the protagonist, even if we viewers are more or less aware of it. Just Wes Anderson created his signature. Let’s also think of the first real image consultants: the Hollywood costume designers in the years in which cinema passed from black and white to color, let’s imagine how much they will have studied to understand its power and study the first palettes».

Is there a color that represents it?
«Certainly red, after all it’s also in my name, we can really say name omen in my case. Rossella, in fact, in English is Scarlett ».

To close, I thought I’d play with colors and associations because, as she herself says in her book, our mind often combines words and colors. Especially in fashion: camel-coat, sand-trench coat… let’s try it!

“Home”?
“I imagine brown and earth tones. They are often mistreated colors but they are very evocative of the deepest aspects of the family: they symbolize the roots».

“Design”?
«I think of orange, of the Sixties style, of modern art, my great passion!».

“Movie”?
«One could say the cerulean of the famous scene of The devil wears Pradabut images of Gone with the wind, those of Rossella who arrives at the party with the wonderful red dress. Or the pastel blue of Grace Kelly’s impeccable dresses».

“Food”?
«Even for food I imagine red. Among other things, it is not only an adrenaline-pumping color, but also capable of activating our metabolism. It is used a lot in the kitchen and in food brands, even for a marketing speech, there are many red logos: from Coca-Cola to Barilla».

“Happiness”?
“Yellow! It brings joy, it’s sunny. And then it is the favorite color of children, when we grow up we tend to leave it, preferring more basic colors such as gray and black, but we should be more daring even as adults, listening to the child in us».

The new book by Rossella Migliaccio COLORS, the complete guide is now on presale on Amazon.it and in bookstores from 29 November.

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