Black was best looking Ebony was the best wood, the hardest wood; it was black. Virginia ham was the best ham. It was black on the outside. Tuxedos and tail coats were black and they were a mans finest, most expensive clothes. You had to use pepper to make most meats and vegetables fit to eat. The most flavorsome pepper was black. The best caviar was black. The rarest jewels were black: black opals, black pearls.
-Ann Petry, The Narrows, 1953
Black is elegant, and mysterious. Black is often said to be the absence of color, but I think it deserves a place as a color itself. The fashion world certainly couldnt function without it! Maybe black has gotten a bad rap because it is associated with the villains hat but black, like white, is like a canvas, and we can paint on it most vividly!