In 1964, when Michelangelo Antonionni directs his first colour picture starring muse Monica Vitti he titles it: Deserto Rosso (“Red Desert”). In 2009, when Damir Doma, former apprentice of Raf Simons, presents his SS10 runway show, he also chooses red to expand his colour palette.
Damir Doma says the idea of colour came upon him by working on human anatomy, imposing itself because of its association with blood, which he equates to life, as a pulsation, movement and energy, all essential notions of his work and worldview. He also underscores the importance of the sensual, quasi-tactile relationship that must exist between the garment, its shape and its colour. For Damir Doma, colour has to be more than a cosmetic detail introduced for flash or variety’s sake; it must occupy a central place and function, as illustrated by his work: colour and the choice of fabric provide depth to the garment and their colourful, layered assemblages. “Usually, when I create white outfits, I try to choose shades of white, when I create grey outfits, shades of grey, because it gives much more depth to the outfit and you have some kind of layering.”
The layering of monochromatic but never monotonous pieces that constitutes an important part of his work is echoed by a layering of colours, or more precisely various shades of colours.
This choices of red, in fact reds going from brown-red to flaming orange, passing through bright red, definitely places him outside the circle of “dark” creators to which he was, for a time, erroneously assimilated.