It’s Lovely, But Stinks: The History Of Purple
Why purple is a color equated with majesty
I have a quick riddle for you. What stinks like a dead fish, but is tightly gripped by the powerful? What’s produced free by nature, but is worth its weight in gold? What is as common as sand, but is incredibly rare?
Stumped? The answer is purple.
Purple is a color easily associated with royalty. Every king or queen on the planet, from the Burger King, to the Queen of England is covered in this particular shade. But, why that particular color?
After all, what’s so special about purple? You find garments of that color everywhere. Every box of crayons has a stick of purple in it. If it’s so common, why is it associated with royalty?
The answer to that question is that it’s common now. At one time the effort to create purple fabric was stretching the bounds of human ability. It would be impossible to even guess how many man hours went into one tiny bit of purple dye.
