Coloration

Have you ever wondered why Colonel Une wears a red, white, and gold uniform and pink ribbons in her hair?  Or why Sainte Une wears blue and white?  No?  Well, I didn't either until I found this cool book: The Complete Book of Color by Suzy Chiazzari.  ^_^  This book is absolutely fascinating, and while I was leafing through it, I started to notice a few things that related to Une, so I thought I would share them here.

Colonel Une
Let's start by taking a look at Colonel Une: the prominent colors of her uniform are red, white, and gold.  Consider these color descriptions taken from the book I mentioned above, The Complete Book of Color:

GOLD — "Like yellow, gold is associated with the sun and is therefore related to abundance and power, higher ideals, wisdom, and understanding.  It is mentally revitalizing, energizing, and inspiring, and helpful for fear, uncertainty, and lack of interest.  Pale gold is excellent for depression and sharpens the mind." RED — "Red is a powerful color that has always been associated with vitality and ambition.  It can help overcome negative thoughts.  However, it is also associated with anger; if we have too much red in our system, or around us, we may feel irritable, impatient, and uncomfortable." PINK — "Pink is emotionally soothing and calming, and gives a feeling of gentle warmth and nurturing.  It lessens feelings of irritation and aggression, surrounding us with a sense of love and protection.  It also alleviates loneliness, despondency, oversensitivity, and vulnerability.  While red relates more to sexuality, pink is associated with unselfish love."

The gold in Colonel Une's uniform acts as a show of power and higher ideals, which isn't surprising considering that others also adorn this color (Treize Khushrenada and Relena Peacecraft, for example).  The prominent red in her uniform is perhaps a reference to her position within the ranks of OZ as well as a statement of her strength and power; not only is she a very intelligent woman but she is also physically strong.  The pink is the real kicker here for me; looking at the description, and comparing it to Colonel Une as we know her, it would seem that the pink ribbons in her hair act as a balancer, and could even possibly represent her counter-part, Sainte Une.  Another possibility is that since pink is associated with unselfish love, this could be a reference to Une's feelings for Treize; an unselfish love is simply when you love someone without expecting anything in return.  It certainly doesn't seem like Une wants anything from Treize.  Rather, she seems only to want to help him achieve his dreams and goals in life.  It could also be that the pink ribbons are a way of showing that Une has a softer more feminine side in addition to the gruff exterior she tends to display as Colonel Une.

Sainte Une
Now let's take a look at Sainte Une: her prominent (and only) colors are blue and white.  Even her shoes are white, though you can't see them in this picture.

BLUE — "Blue is a cool, calming color and is associated with a higher part of the mind than yellow.  It represents the night, so makes us feel calm and relaxed as if we are being soothed by the deep blue of the night sky.  Light and soft blue make us feel quiet and protected from all the bustle and activity of the day and alleviate insomnia.  Blue inspires mental control, clarity, and creativity.  Midnight blue has a strong sedative effect on the mind, allowing us to connect to our intuitive and feminine side.  Too much dark blue can be depressing, however." WHITE — "The color of ultimate purity is white.  It is an all-around color of protection, bringing peace and comfort, alleviating emotional shock and despair, and helping inner cleansing of emotions, thoughts, and spirit.  If you need time and space to reflect on your life, white can give you a feeling of freedom and uncluttered openness.  Too much white, however, can be cold and isolating, because white separates us from other people."

If anyone can read those color descriptions above and not relate them to Sainte Une, then I have to question whether or not you even know who she is.  ^_^  Blue is a calm and relaxing color; Sainte Une is a calm, quite, relaxed character.  Blue is a quiet and protective color; Sainte Une is a quiet woman who wishes to protect (and who is protected).  Midnight blue promotes connections to intuition and femininity; Sainte Une is a very feminine woman who also sometimes follows her "gut" feelings.  White is the color of peace; Lady Une promotes and believes strongly in peace.  The comment about too much white relates more to OZ as a whole, since every OZ soldier wears white pants (which could refer to their distancing themselves from battle through the use of the mobile dolls; besides the fact that war itself is cold and isolating).  From this alone, it is clear to me that a great deal of thought went into choosing the colors for Une.

On an additional note, there is also a section on the history of colors.  Here's what it says about the history of the color blue:

"This is the color given to the Virgin Mary, known in popular European Catholicism as the "Queen of Heaven," who is often shown with a royal blue cloak.  In Greek and Roman mythology, the sky gods Jupiter, Juno, and Mercury were associated with blue.  In the Old Testament, God the Father was also represented by a deep blue.  In Islam, blue or turquoise is the color of the Islamic religion and community, and often decorates mosques.  Blue also symbolizes peace, truth, and cooperation, and is used for the flag of the United Nations and the background of the European flag."

The most interesting thing about this description, to me at least, is that in the gallery, there is an image from GundamWingOrg's listing that shows Sainte Une holding a blue cloak, though whether it is royal blue or not is your decision.  Another interesting fact is that Sainte Une is often seen with her hands clasped, as in the image, in what could be called a prayer-like gesture, and the fact that "Sainte Une" when translated from French means "Holy One" in English.  Just something to think about.  ^_^

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