Ezra Cardigan
Tomato
#E0102B
True red
A True Winter and Bright Winter color
True red
anchor color 1 of 10 in True Winter · anchor color 4 of 10 in Bright Winter. Also called Cool Winter, Clear Winter in other systems.
By Kathleen Olsen · Updated November 11, 2026
- Hex
- #E0102B
- RGB
- 224, 16, 43
- HSL
- 352°, 87%, 47%
True red is red with nothing added. No orange pulling it warm, no blue pulling it toward wine. It is the one red that both True Winter and Bright Winter own outright, and the red most people picture when they say the word. Pure is a strange thing for a color to be, and most reds on a rail are not.
Where it sits
True red is an anchor color in True Winter and also appears in Bright Winter. Nothing on the same side of the warm–cool line comes within twenty points of it; the nearest is Cool blue-red #B00030 in Deep Winter at 23. That makes it a clean test. If it suits you, you are in this palette.
What makes it work for the Winters is that it has no cast to clash with. A warm red carries orange, and orange against cool skin looks like a flush that has gone wrong. A cool red carries blue, which reads as wine and loses the brightness. True red sits exactly between them, so on a True Winter it looks crisp and on a Bright Winter it looks loud in the right way.
On everyone else it is a hard color. Autumns find it too clean and too cold. Springs find it a touch dull next to their own coral and tomato reds, which have the orange that makes them sing. Summers find it too much, full stop. This is the red people are talking about when they say someone cannot wear red. Usually they can, just not this one.
Dye is the problem in practice. A red that was true on the swatch drifts orange under store lighting and drifts blue under a phone camera. RGB 224, 16, 43 is the reference. If a red garment photographs with any orange in it, it is probably a Spring red wearing a Winter label.
Easily confused with
The nearest reds outside the Winter palettes are warm tomato red, which belongs to True Spring, and coral red, which belongs to Bright Spring. Both carry orange. Hold a true red next to either and the orange in the other one shows immediately. The red it gets mistaken for inside the cool family is Deep Winter's cool blue-red, which is darker and visibly wine.
The nearest named colors in other seasons, by perceptual distance (ΔE in CIELAB; under 10 is hard to tell apart on a screen, over 25 is a different color).
Warm tomato red #E8452E
True Spring anchor · ΔE 13
Coral red #F25C4A
Bright Spring anchor · ΔE 19
Cool blue-red #B00030
Deep Winter anchor · ΔE 23
Bright coral #FF6F5E
Bright Spring anchor · ΔE 26
Rust #B7410E
True Autumn and Dark Autumn anchor · ΔE 27
Burnt sienna #C4532A
True Autumn anchor · ΔE 29
In stock in this color today
As of November 11, 2026, 22 in-stock pieces across STAUD, Frank & Eileen, Boden and Marine Layer sample within a close match of #E0102B. The dot on each card is the color we sampled from the garment itself; trust it over the photograph. Links are affiliate links: we earn a commission when you buy through them, at no cost to you.
What it's sold as
Retailers almost never use the palette name. These are the color names on the in-stock pieces that sample within a close match of #E0102B today, so they are the words to search for.
- STAUD
- Tomato, Red Rose, Holly, Cardinal, Painted Foulard
- Frank & Eileen
- Rose, Poinsettia, Holly
- Boden
- Salsa Red, Poppy Red
- Marine Layer
- Faded Ruby, Crimson
A retailer's name for a color says nothing about its undertone. "Navy" at one shop is a True Winter color and at another a Spring one. The sampled dot on each card above is what we trust.
Questions
Is true red a True Winter or Bright Winter color?
Both. True red (#E0102B) is an anchor color in the True Winter and Bright Winter palettes. No other palette on the same side of the warm–cool line has a color near it, which makes it a reliable test for the season.
Can a True Winter wear red?
Yes, this one. True red is anchor color one in the True Winter palette. The trick is avoiding the two reds that are not it: anything with orange, which is Spring's, and anything with enough blue to read as wine, which is Deep Winter's.
Can a Deep Winter wear true red?
Close, but their own red is better. Deep Winter's cool blue-red sits about twenty points away, darker and bluer. True red on a Deep Winter looks a little bright and a little thin. The blue-red has more weight.
Can a Spring wear true red?
True Spring and Bright Spring are better in their own reds, which carry orange. True red on a Spring looks slightly flat, as if the color stopped a step short. Warm tomato red and coral red go the rest of the way.
What is the difference between true red and cherry red?
Usually nothing. Cherry red is a retail name, not a color, and most cherry reds are a true red or a touch bluer. If the cherry red reads as wine next to a tomato, it is a cool red and belongs to Deep Winter.
The True Winter guide · All in-stock True Winter pieces · Cobalt → · All colors