The Story of the colour "Purple"

THE STORY OF THE COLOUR PURPLE:
How an accidental discovery changed Fashion forever.
In March1856 (165 years ago) an 18-year-old teenaged student, WILLIAM HENRY PERKIN created ‘PURPLE’ during a failed chemistry experiment to produce quinine that is used to treat Malaria.

Mauveine in the historical collection of dyes of the Technical University of Dresden. Credit: JWBE
This was the first invented synthetic dye. Perkin, originally named ‘TYRIAN PURPLE’, but he later renamed it the French word ‘MAUVE’.

Credit: Science & Society picture library/SSPL/SSPL via Getty Images Until Perkins discovery, Purple was reserved only for Royalty. The natural ‘Tyrian Purple’ came from a species of sea snails. It took 250,000 mollusks to yield just an ounce of dye. It was so rare and so expensive that its value was worth its weight in gold.

Credit: https://blog.glaciermediadigital.ca/index.php/2021/10/07/colour-story-tyrian-purple/
The discovery of ‘Mauve’ captivated even the likes of Queen Victoria of England & Empress Eugenie, a leading fashionista in Europe & the wife of Napoleon III.It was now possible to dye fabric in this colour for the masses.
And so, a colour that only a few people were able to flaunt ended up becoming exclusive no more.The discovery of the world’s first synthetic dye revolutionized the FASHION, MEDICAL & CHEMICAL industry forever!
In 2018, The Pantone Colour Institute announced it had added a new colour to its rainbow: “Love Symbol #2,” a shade of purple mixed in honour of the late pop-icon Prince.

Source: Pantone

About Author

Vijayalakshmi Nachiar is Co-Founder Ethicus.