I find the subject of colour when examined on a social level, relevant and interesting. When shown different colour fields the human brain displays varied levels of excitement that can lead to mood shifts (Semir Zeki – Inner Vision, Oxford Press 1999). We also have a social belonging to colour, as indicated by David Bachelor in ‘Chromophobia’ (Reaktion Books – 2000), that dictates our tolerance to another’s choice of colour for their clothing and hence when a person ignores these hidden boundaries they become shunned as not belonging to the tribe.To display a notion of other than and more than, carries the punishment of being outcast from our coveted western society, one which outwardly boasts an all encompassing and all embracing acceptance of cultural diversity. Yet the moment we display more than the colours of the suppressed pallet worn daily and seen standing on the train station platforms, cueing at the tills and drinking in the pubs it is seen as:‘a foreign body…. the primitive, the infantile, the vulgar or pathological.’ Batchelor, David Chromophobia, p.22We need only think of the most colourful character in our society and we are faced with the Clown or the Fool. The outcast is the label we place upon the person who dares to wear colour. I personally still talk about a friend’s pair of bright red patent leather shoes today, and these were worn some 19 years ago. He wore these shoes with great pride. However, his overt visual statement led some of the school friends to shun him, ‘What bad taste he has!’; ‘He’s an idiot.’ and ‘Don’t stand next to me with those on.’ Said through a fear of potentially being outcast from the group by association to the evil bright red shoes.