Red
Red was not a proper name for a girl. She hated it for most of her childhood. Half the time people misheard and said in a puzzled way “Ed”?
If she’d had auburn hair, it might have been more appropriate, but why was she called Red if not? Maybe her parents had named her after the storybook character, Little Red Riding Hood. She’d seen pictures from her childhood in hooded outfits which reflected that idea. But they wouldn’t be drawn on the reason. They just said, “we liked it and it seemed to suit you”.
Couldn’t they have called her Auburn, Sorrel or Rowan; Ruby, Poppy or Rosie; Scarlett, Cherry or Sienna even… there were plenty of names meaning red without having to use the actual boring colour. The only other Reds she knew of were male and American, like Red Buttons or Red Adair, and they didn’t start out with the name Red in any case.
Surprisingly, she didn’t get bullied for it. Sometimes an older child would say something like “What, are your parents famous or something?”, but there were other things to be bullied about, like wearing glasses or being smaller than everyone else, or being clever. A name was just a name.
It wasn’t until she got to her mid-twenties that she started to live with it. A chance discussion in a beauty salon about different types of colouring led her to get her colours analysed, and it came as a bit of a shock when red turned out to be one of her best colours. She’d pretty much avoided it up until then. But apparently with her very dark hair and light skin she was a “winter”, so a bluey red (tending towards purple more than orange) was one of her key colours. And it was weird. Whereas she’d spent most of her life before that being told “you look pale, are you feeling OK?”, after she started wearing red (and a few other winter-coloured basics) no-one said that any more and they started complementing her on her clothes and makeup.
Lipstick became a favourite, there were so many good reds, and they did look good on her. And when she put on the lipstick and the red belt, or jumper, or bag, she felt different. As though Red was a good thing. And it was easy to make a statement by theming everything she wore or carried around red plus neutrals. She developed an eye for an accessory with a chic touch of red.
She was out having drinks with friends at the Redhouse on the Quayside when someone wreathed in giggles mentioned the content developer job at True Red Media, the trendiest digital marketing agency in Ouseburn. She was perfectly happy in her external relations job at the University, but, fuelled by cocktails (Bloody Mary anyone?), she and a friend completed the online application form there and then. She didn’t get home till 2 am…
She had in fact, completely forgotten the application until she got an email a couple of weeks later inviting her to interview. What was there to lose? She picked out her best red work dress and accessorised the red down a bit before adding her favourite low heeled red pumps.
Of course, the first thing they said at the interview was “Is your name really Red?”, but as they were scanning her passport anyway as part of the process, they could tell for themselves. It was almost fun. She managed to get a shade of red into every answer she gave. At the end they were all laughing. On the Metro home she reflected that it had been an enjoyable day even if she didn’t get the job, and she’d picked up some ideas to try out on the recruitment campaigns at the university…
Two days later she got a phone call. “We want you to be the face of True Red!” They couldn’t believe their luck that someone so appropriate had turned up. All the right skills, the right look – and even the right name.
When she rang her mum to say she’d got a new job at 50% increase in salary, and told her all about it, her mum said, “I knew Red suited you, right from the start.”
December 2021