Robust Gown Ruby

From the Latin robustus, of oak — implying strength combined with substance. As a color modifier, robust describes saturation combined with body: a robust burgundy, a robust olive. Sits in the bold-and-warm corner alongside strong and solid, with the slightly textural implication of a color that has substance behind the pigment.

Old French goune, long-loose-garment. As a color modifier, gown implies a Tudor-and-Elizabethan-and-formal-evening-gown quality, the visual register of Tudor-and-Elizabethan-and-Worth-couture-gown hand-Tudor-and-Elizabethan-and-formal-evening-gown Tudor-and-Elizabethan-and-Worth-couture-gown-and-Belle-Époque gown-and-Tudor-and-Elizabethan surfaces under Tudor-and-Elizabethan-and-Worth-couture-gown-and-Belle-Époque Hampton-Court-and-Maison-Worth-Paris court-and-couture-light. Sits at the modifier-and-textile end of the grid, parallel to robe and frock in usage.

From the Latin ruber — simply, red. The gemstone is a chromium-tinged corundum, harder than anything in nature except diamond, and so saturated that a fine Burmese pigeon's blood ruby at auction outpaces a comparable diamond by weight. The color borrows the gem's confidence: a clear, glassy red without the brown of garnet or the blue of crimson.