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Writer's pictureMissCandyLicious candysseus

“Those colours are Fake.” Discovery of synthetic dye.

Well you know me peeps, I’m always on the hunt for historic happenings in our all time favourite game Red Dead Online and I’ve seen Rockstar Games copping a lot of flack about some of the clothing colour variations available.


Some of the Red Dead community believe the bright colours are fake looking and in some way make a mockery of the western style game.



In particular Wheeler Rawson & Co ran a poll on Twitter to discuss with the community their thoughts and feelings on the current outfit reward from the new OutLaw pass 5, The Faucheux.



The results totally sparked my interest on colourful clothing, almost half of the voters were dissatisfied with the Faucheux outfit reward because it lacked western style and the colours were fake.


Personally, I absolutely adore all the colour variations especially pinks, purples and blues, but do feel I have to tone down the brightness to really achieve the western look, so it became apparent that I obviously have the same western imagery that has been infused into my mind over time just like most people.


Knowing Rockstar Games always keep the content true to life in other areas, I became overwhelmed with curiosity,

why would they put these colour variations in the game if they were so far from true to life?

I just figured it was to fill the target market group of bright attire wearers that I’m actually a huge part of and just accepted it.


Until the Faucheux outfit,


The Wheeler Rawson & co club reward comes in shades of indigo, blue, violet and also brightly coloured patches of the evil eye nazar.


I love it but a lot of the community have claimed it’s fake looking, so my research into textile history began.


It would seem Rockstar Games have surprised me again.

The clothing colour variations provided by the Wheeler Rawson & Co catalogue are actually spot on point.


1856 would be the year the first synthetic dye was discovered and was in mass production within a couple of years.


The Red Dead Redemption stories take place in 1898/1899, synthetic dyes had been in mass production for over 40 years.


The young William Henry Perkin would stumble across the chemical structure to create Aniline dye, after being challenged by his professor, to create a treatment for Malaria.



Even though Perkin‘s discovery was no fancy cure for a medical condition it was definitely the cure for DCCS,

Drab Coloured Clothing Syndrome, most of the population were suffering from.



William Perkin had found away to extract a tacky substance named aniline from coal to create the dye he labeled Mauveine, its colour was of a deep indigo purple. Over the few years, in mass production more colours were invented, several by Perkins himself.




Prior to the discovery of synthetic aniline dyes people had extracted elements from animals and plants to colour their fabrics and even smoking techniques were used to colour heavier fabric like leathers.

All these methods of dying fabric resulted mainly in drab colours of cream, brown, green, grey and earthy red.

One could totally understand the excitement of our past fashion lovers at the prospect of a brand new set of bright coloured garments for them to wear and not limited to fabrics for garments but for linens and furniture upholstery.


A brilliant way to express ones own brightness or colourfulness of character, a way to have your personality stand out amongst the crowd.



More than anything else, fabulously colourful fabrics were rare and highly sought after by the wealthy including royalty, so were a great way to show economical prowess and financial stature.

William Henry Perkin, British chemist passed away in 1907 at age 69 after claiming numerous honours and awards and was worth just over £86,000 that’s equivalent to about £9,000,000 in 2019 money.



In conclusion, I tip my hat to you guys at Rockstar Games, dyed or not, the colour variations you are providing are in fact, contrary to popular belief are not fake colours but instead very true to life.


To be honest I don’t even know why I questioned it, but I’m so glad I did.


The amount of information I learn from this game is unbelievable.

Best game ever!!!



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