Crimson & Violet & Rose

Crimson is the bauta mask — the deep vivid crimson of the most historically important Venetian carnival mask. The bauta: the bauta (from Venetian dialect — the most historically important and the most immediately Venetian-specific of all the traditional Carnivale di Venezia masks — a full-face white mask with a squared-off and slightly protruding chin designed to allow eating and drinking without removing the mask — the most specifically functional and the most immediately socially democratic of all the traditional Venetian carnival masks — worn with the black tabarro cloak and the tricorn hat) was the most officially recognized and the most formally regulated of all the traditional Venetian carnival costumes — its use being legally permitted throughout the most important periods of the Venetian Republic for visiting gambling houses, attending the theater, and other semi-official occasions where anonymity was considered both personally desirable and socially appropriate. The white bauta against the crimson-lined tabarro: the most specifically traditional Carnivale di Venezia color combination — the absolute white of the bauta mask contrasting with the most vivid crimson silk lining of the black tabarro cloak — the most immediately dramatic and the most specifically Venetian masquerade color contrast of any European carnival costume tradition. Violet is the velvet cloak — the deep vivid violet of the most exquisite Venetian carnival draping. Venetian silk velvet: the Venetian silk velvet industry (the most technically sophisticated and the most immediately internationally prestigious luxury textile manufacturing tradition in medieval and Renaissance Europe — centered on the Venetian lagoon city from approximately the 12th century CE — the most important single luxury export of the Venetian economy from the most critical 13th through the most important 16th centuries) produced the most immediately beautiful and the most comprehensively sumptuous textile material in the entire European luxury market — the specific deep vivid violet velvet of the most elaborately dyed and the most precisely woven Venetian silk pile fabric (produced using the most carefully cultivated Tyrian-purple-inspired violet dyes from the most important Venetian dyeing workshops) being the most immediately prestigious and the most specifically masquerade-appropriate fabric color for the most important Carnivale di Venezia participants. Rose is the serpentina — the vivid electric rose of the most festive Venetian confetti ribbon. The serpentina tradition: the serpentina (the most immediately festive and the most comprehensively color-specific confetti paper ribbon of the Italian carnival tradition — first used in the most important Italian carnivals in the 19th century — the most specifically brilliant dyed paper strip coiled into the most characteristic circular tube and thrown or unrolled into the most immediately beautiful aerial cascade of paper ribbon) is the most immediately visually festive and the most comprehensively color-creating element of the Italian carnival celebration — the specific vivid rose-to-magenta of the most brilliantly dyed rose-pink serpentina ribbons creating the most immediately beautiful and the most comprehensively aerial color spectacle of the most important Piazza San Marco Carnivale celebrations.