black as the color of refusal

[sagehen]

>Judith Thurman in The New Yorker, 7/4/05, on japanese fashion
>designer Rei Kawakubo:
>
>-----
>The palette was monochrome, with a little ash mixed into the soot,
>and one hears it vsaid thatr Kawakubo "invented black"--it is one of
>the "objective achievements" cited by the Harvard school of design
>when it gave her an Excellence in Design Award in 2000.  What she
>objectively achieved was the revival of black's cachet as the color
>of refusal.
>-----
>
>color of refusal?  is this something i should have known about before?
>
>arnold
~~~~~~~~
As in "blackball," perhaps?
AM