#color value

The popularity of color purple

The color purple was particularly popular in the Byzantine era. Its rare and difficult production gave the color purple a certain level of scarcity to the products that use the color purple. This was highly regarded by the Byzantine people that the emperors and kings of the time would wear flowing purple robes to signify that they can afford such luxuries.

Not all royals can afford the color purple though. In the third century, Roman emperor Aurelian wouldn't allow his wife to buy a shawl made from Tyrian purple silk because it literally cost its weight in gold.

I’d like to think that that was a pretty embarrassing situation for them. Especially now that it’s being talked about by everyone. Like a little-known fact about them, they shall forever be remembered as the royal roman couple that could not afford to buy his wife the expensive scarf.

Why was the color purple expensive?

A question that ran through my mind was why was the color purple so expensive at that time? In our world today, we can see the color purple everywhere. In fact, so many people consider purple as their favorite color and can literally have almost all their possessions in different shades of purple.

I did some snooping around and I came to the conclusion that it was as simple as supply and demand.

Blinus brandaris - the origin of the purple dye in the Byzantine era.

The color purple in the Byzantine and Elizabethan era was specifically called Tyrian Purple. The color was named after the city of Tyre, current day Lebanon, along the coast of ancient Phoenicia where the shells of a species of sea snail now known as Bolinus brandaris were harvested and made into the purple dye. These sea snails were found along the coasts of the Mediterranean sea.

Harvesters would have to go through a long and arduous process just to make an ounce of usable purple dye. First, they would crack the snail shells open to get to the actual sea snail. After that, they’ll get the purple-producing mucus that comes from the sea snail. After harvesting the mucus, they will then expose the mucus to sunlight for a specific amount of time.

With the amount of mucus one snail can make and without the current technology of snail mucus extraction, it took about 250,000 mollusks to yield even just an ounce of purple dye! Remember, the purple that royalty wore was dark and striking. Thus is the low supply of the color purple. Only those that are willing to give the extra amount of gold would be able to purchase it!

It’s even more absurd to think that the dresses of royalty are usually thick and long! Imagine how many mollusks were used to create even just one spool of thread.

Thankfully, by 1856 an English chemist by the name of Willian Henry Perkin was able to create a synthetic purple compound as he was attempting to synthesize quintine, an anti-malaria drug. He realized then that this compound that he created was able to dye fabrics. At the age of 18, Sir William Henry Perkins was able to patent this compound and manufactured it under the names aniline purple and Tyrian purple.

Sir William Henry Perkin | Photo from Science History Institute

By 1859, three years after its discovery, it was called mauve from the French name of the purple mallow flower.

Thanks to the efforts of Sir William Henry Perkin, the elite royal color became widely available and affordable.

The color purple in pop culture

Although purple has not lost its magic and its meaning of royalty, the color purple has been used to represent different things. The color purple has been seen in the political scene quite a lot. IN the women’s suffrage in the US and Europe, the color purple was used as a symbol of solidarity and unity among women.

The color purple has been used in the movements of social change and I think it’s beautiful that something that was once something that only royalty and the elite could have is now being used by the masses for change.

The bisexual flag and its colors

Take for example the bisexual flag. For the longest time, bisexuals have not been very visible. When you think of sexual orientation, it is still most common to end up with the idea of binary gender. The bisexual flag represents an attraction to the gender binary by pink and blue with the color purple in between to signify the attraction to everything in between.

Bisexuality does not mean the binary of gender and attraction but is the umbrella term for what is known to be current-day pansexuals. There are a lot of readings about the bisexual manifesto online and would be best to read on that before defending the state of pansexuality.

Prince and the Revolution Purple Rain

In pop culture, the color purple has been used in extravagance and individualism. As seen here in Prince and the revolution of Purple Rain album where he dons the color purple quite proudly. For the longest time, the color purple was significantly connected to Prince that on the day he died, people wore the color purple to signify their mourning instead of wearing the typical black that was know as the color of mourning.

Conclusion