Red is a very stirring color—few hues make more of a statement. It represents love as much as anger—a valentine’s heart, seeing red. The color of a matador’s cape, a traffic light, blood. It’s powerful, it’s bold. It can be political, and it can also be a color of much significance in some cultures.

It’s seldom a color you see people wearing head to toe as regularly as, say, black or blue, though I’m not quite sure why. Perhaps it’s too much of a statement for some, much louder than an easygoing brown or a neutral gray. There must be something to that (totally debunked) myth that red cars cost more to insure than other colors—it’s reflective of feelings on red: inconspicuous, bold, likes to go fast.

So these red jewels, while perfectly fit to flaunt any day of the year, have an extra-special magic about them right now. It’s not the quiet snowfall or the beautiful carols (I much prefer the image of those in frosty blue and gold). It’s the exuberant gatherings that we’ve missed ever so over the last two years. The color of the cocktails that hit our lips so sweetly. The satiny ribbons that decorate the thoughtful gifts. And—much like these jewels—the pops of color that we don with our gay apparel.