"red satin" and then "brown corduroy."

Ah synesthesia. We all have it to some degree, but a few have it to a very visible level. Like the conductor Sir John Barbaroli who was said to once ask for "more blue".

And what better than red?
The autumn fire of Ontario and Vermont.
The warm glow of wood embers. Rose tinted spectacles. Good luck in Chinese culture.

Colourful language! We speak in metaphore, and think nothing of it, till the metaphore is unfamiliar, contorted or pretentius.