For an important engagement today I had resolved that I should wear my red button up. It is a very striking shade of red, one which draws some attention from its forthright appearance.
Therefore, great care must be taken when pairing it with pants and accessories lest one draw too much attention by appearing as an eyesore.
Thus I had presumed I should wear my black pants whose depth would produce space and build a suitable and simple base for the shirt. Lo, I had forgotten I had worn that very pair a day prior, and was now indisposed with the laundry.
Searching further, I found several other pairs which were unsuitable until a shade of navy flew before my eyes. At first I gazed down with suspicion, but then I softened. Black and navy often do not go together, for they are far too similar, yet, in this moment, I realized how different they really were. What a fool I had been, to first think of my black pants. No, the navy was of course far more suitable.
In matters of depth, one who looks plainly will say that black has the more of it, that in its direct and obvious properties, the darkness of the black will further engage the senses.
However such an one would be mistaken. The navy has a false, and therefore subtler depth. Take the case of a man in the dark. The black-clad person can easily be made out, for his depth is simple, and by such a means is revealed in silhouette for being the darkest object in the room, whereas, the one in navy will appear all the more hidden, being still darkly and deeply dressed, but demanding even further attention if he shall be discovered.
Why is this the case? For, the direct avenue to depth is simpler, requires no mind. The disguised avenue to depth is all the more subtle and hidden, revealing nothing, not even that it is hiding something.
This is why the navy is suited to the red, the starkness of the simplicity of the black, paired with the direct starkness of the red, is all too striking, it reveals that one is trying to guise the red, and only brings more attention to it in doing so. The navy reveals nothing, it falls into subtlety, subduing the red and balancing the equation.