Ombre

Ombre (pronounced om-brey)

(1) A gradual blending of one color to another, usually a blended shifting of tints and shades from light to dark within the range of one hue but it can also be applied when using contrasting hues.

(2) A card game of Spanish origin, dating from the late seventeenth century; played usually by three, it uses a deck of forty cards, the 8, 9 & 10 discarded and gained the name from the phrase “Soy el hombre” (I am the man), uttered at critical points during play.  As a fashionable game, it was superseded by quadrille.

(4) A large Mediterranean fish (Umbrina cirrosa), popular in cooking (archaic and better known as the shi drum, gurbell, sea crow, bearded umbrine or corb).

1840–1845: From the French ombré (shadowed, shaded), past participle of ombrer, from the Italian ombrare (to cover in shadow (in painting)), ultimately from the Latin umbra (shadow).  The name of the card game (as a reference to the player who attempts to win the pot) was from the French hombre, from the Spanish hombre (man), from the Latin homo, from the earlier hemō, from the Proto-Italic hemō, from the primitive Indo-European ǵm̥mṓ (earthling), from déǵōm (earth), from which Latin gained Latin humus (ground, floor, earth, soil).  It was cognate with the Old Lithuanian žmuõ (man), the Gothic guma and the Old English guma (man).  The link between the words for both earth and man wasn't unique to Latin and existed also in Semitic languages, illustrated by the Hebrew אָדָם‎ (adám) (man) & אֲדָמָה‎ (adamá) (soil).  Ombre is a noun & adjective (and conceivably a verb); the noun plural is ombres.

Ombre chiffon strapless bridesmaid dress from Dollygown (left) and Mansory’s Ferrari F8XX Spider Tempesta Turchese (right).  There seems no clear agreement about when a "bridesmaid dress" becomes a "bridesmaid gown" and most retailers avoid the latter term, presumably to avoid compressing relativities between "bridal gowns" and what the bridesmaids wear.

Mansory is a German operation based in Tirschenreuth, Bavaria, the core business of which is the modification of high-priced (mostly European) cars.  Their signature approach is the celebration of conspicuous consumption and they eschew subtlety in favor of an eye-catching appearance, a focus being “one-off” (the “one of one philosophy” as they describe it) creations where a particular combination of colors and modifications are not duplicated on another vehicle.  So, while not exactly bespoke, their products are about the closest thing possible to actually displaying a price-tag somewhere on the bodywork, their output said to have achieved high sales Russia, China, the Middle East and India; Mansory's work with specific components, notably carbon-fibre, is renowned in the industry as state-of-the-art and of the highest standard.  One recent one-off creation was the F8XX Spider Tempesta Turchese (Turquoise Storm), a variation of their modified Ferrari F8 Spider on which the ombre color scheme transitioned gradually from a specially blended white to a vivid turquoise, accented by Mansory’s traditional set of forged carbon-fibre pieces in black.  The company also modifies the 3.9 liter (238 cubic inch) twin-turbocharged V8, its output increased by some 22% to 868 bhp (648 kW) which propels the Tempesta Turchese to a top speed of 220 mph (355 km/h).

Lindsay Lohan in vintage Herve Leger bandage dress, Maxim Hot 100 Party, Gansevoort Hotel, New York City, May 2007 (left) and 1976 PDL Ford Mustang II, Baskerville Raceway, Tasmania, Australia, 1977 (right).

Incorrectly, ombre sometimes is used to describe color arrays or schemes where a variety of distinct shades are applied with a clear line of division between each and this is wrong because the ombre effect is one in which there's a gradual blending of one hue into another.  Where the multi-color (which can be just two) layers are distinct and differentiated, designers use the generic term “color block” to refer to the use of solid blocks of contrasting or complementary shades.  A special case is the “rainbow stripe”, applied to an array which recalls the pattern (not necessarily the curved shape) of a rainbow but this need not follow the classic (ROYGBIV) color model.  Indeed, an array of colors which in nature would never be seen in a rainbow can still be called “rainbow stripe”, based on the pattern. So, Ms Lohan's bandage dress is in rainbow stripe while the Mustang II's livery is in a color block scheme. 

1974 Ford Mustang II.

Although of the seven generations it's the least fondly remembered, commercially, the Mustang II (1973-1979) was a great success.  Smaller and lighter than what it predecessor had evolved to become, serendipitously, it had been released just weeks before the first oil shock (October 1973).  It's sometimes forgotten the shift in the US to also produce smaller cars pre-dated the oil crisis of the 1970s and was a reaction to changing public tastes and success of imported cars, most notably those from Japan.  Upon debut, the Mustang II surprised some (and appalled others) because a V8 engine wasn't even on the option list but it was the right car at the right time and a great success although it's the only Mustang not to have some sort of following in the collector market.

1976 PDL Mustang II.

The PDL Mustang II was a space-frame race car built in New Zealand in 1976 to conform to the commendably liberal rules which at the time applied.  So extensive were the modifications from the donor vehicle that any relationship with the actual Ford Mustang II wasn’t even skin deep and it used one of the rare, aluminum-block Ford 351 cubic inch (5.8 litre) Cleveland V8s.  It replaced the original PDL Mustang  which was based on a genuine 1970 Mustang Boss 429 which had been stolen and recovered without its valuable engine and transmission.  Purchased for what was in retrospect the bargain price of US$500, it was actually a good basis for a circuit racer because Kar Kraft (the specialist operation to which the build of the Boss 429 programme (1969-1970) was out-sourced) was compelled to widen the front track to accommodate the big 429, something which, when fitted with an iron-block 351, greatly improved the handling.  Both cars enjoyed much success but so radical were the modifications to the Mustang II that eventually it was compelled to wander the planet to find events where the organizers were prepared to let it run.  When it was unleashed, it was fast, loud and spectacular and made a good case for there being more Formula Libre races.  That case can still be made.