 Violet
A combination of red and blue, colours that display diametrically opposed personalities, violet and other hues in its family, such as mauve and purple, variously wrap themselves in cloaks of mystery, richness, refinement, malaise, trouble or provocation. The violet family suffers from a split personality that has always generated very different reactions.
The history of dyes has been marked by purple, a crimson substance extracted from some species of molluscs and used, in days of yore, to colour the ornate garments worn by emperors. Hence the expression purple prose used to describe ornate writing.
The religious world associates violet with the Passion of Christ. Easter rites include the use of complementary colours – violet and yellow – symbolic of lent and the return of spring with its yellow crocuses and daffodils
In the days of the British Empire, mauve was the only colour allowed to complement grey, black and white during periods of half-mourning. The gloomy connotations attached to the colour may well explain the aversion of fashion designers for mauve until the middle of the nineteenth century.
During the sixties, the violet family of colours became very popular. Considered unconventional and provocative, colours in the violet range stood as the symbol of a generation of youths in search of freedom. Some still recall those vivid prints in oranges and magenta!
La Couleur Nature, histoire et décoration ; Paris, Le Temps Apprivoisé ; 1993 ; 256 pages.
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