We’ve always known that purple is a royal color, but why? Long story short, true purple dye is a rare commodity, and is extremely expensive to produce. In Caesar’s time, it took about 10,000 mollusks (the source of the dye) to dye just one toga Tyrian purple. Because of this, only emperors, and royalty in other regions could wear purple and royal blue (which is made similarly).
The image above (right) shows an old Roman painting, called “Villa dei Misteri Pompeii,” which captures the Roman origins of royal purple dye.
Today’s incarnations of the dye (now synthetically reproduced) are varying shades of deep burgundy – a big color for fall 2012. Shown in collections like Jason Wu, Tibi, DVF, Peter Som, and more, the fashion world is going to need a lot of purple dye to sustain our fashion cravings.
MORE:
Last week’s NOW & THEN: The Peter Pan Collar. JENESEQUA
Our Pinterest board, Burgundy Blitz. Pinterest
More royal purple history. About.com
Author: Alexis Sargent Graphic: Alexis Sargent Photo credits: Maire Claire, Aurorah History Boutique.
