Stately Peplos Fuchsia

An adjectival form of state, condition of dignity. Used as a color modifier since the seventeenth century for the deep saturated jewel tones of formal ceremony — the deep blue of a robes-of-state, the deep red of a state-banquet velvet. Sits in the bold-and-formal corner alongside imperial and royal, with slightly less institutional weight.

Greek πέπλος, Hellenic-women's-robe. As a color modifier, peplos implies a Hellenic-women's-peplos-and-pinned-shoulder quality, the visual register of Hellenic-peplos-and-Athena-Parthenos hand-Hellenic-women's-peplos-and-pinned-shoulder Hellenic-peplos-and-Athena-Parthenos-and-Panathenaic-festival peplos-and-Hellenic-women's-peplos surfaces under Hellenic-peplos-and-Athena-Parthenos-and-Panathenaic-festival Athenian-Acropolis-and-Panathenaic-procession Hellenic-court-light. Sits at the modifier-and-textile end of the grid, parallel to chiton and tunic in usage.

The genus Fuchsia — South American shrubs named in 1703 for the German botanist Leonhart Fuchs. The color refers to the calyx and tube of a vibrant Fuchsia magellanica hybrid: a saturated, slightly cool deep pink-magenta with the satiny finish of a tubular hummingbird-pollinated flower. Brighter than rose, warmer than orchid, with the bedding-and-basket weight of a plant genus whose flowers gave English the most attention-demanding pink in the spectrum.