The History of Purple Dye, Molluscs And A Victorian Teenager

You may recall from history classes your teacher noting how purple was a colour for Royalty and that, historically, only someone of that high status, with that much money, could afford to wear a garment containing that hue. For once, what your teacher told you is actually correct. For centuries purple has been reserved for Royalty, Elizabeth I even forbade anyone except close family members from wearing the colour as one of her many sumptuary laws. But, why purple? What is so special and unique about the colour purple? I mean, ask a ‘purple person’ and they’ll simply tell you it’s the greatest tone there ever was! The truth, as opposed to opinion, is that purple was extremely difficult to create thus raking up its price to purchase and, in turn, its rarity. 

Vegan’s you may want to turn away now...purple was made using snails or molluscs. The Phoenician trading city of Tyre, in what is now modern-day Lebanon, is credited as having discovered this particular dye. Tyrian purple as it came to be known needed around 9000 tiny molluscs in order to create just one gram of dye. Once the molluscs were collected they were then boiled for days in massive vats, creating the most awful stench. Funnily enough, these snails aren’t even purple to begin with! The purple tincture is excreted (I am so sorry for the use of that word, but really there is no nicer phrase) by the snail as a sort of predatory instinct when they find themselves in the dangerous position of being boiled. When this fluid is released by the snail and interacts with the oxygen in the air it then develops the famous Tyrian purple shade that we have now used for around 3000 years. 

Day dress from early 1850s, The John Bright Historic Costume Collection

Due to its rarity and the difficulties of producing Tyrian purple, only wealthy rulers could afford it and so the colour become synonymous with the ruling classes of Persia, Rome and Egypt. Spirituality and holiness would also become associated with the colour because the ancient Kings, Queens and Emperors that wore the shade were perceived as Gods/Goddesses on Earth. To really put the cost of Tyrian purple into perspective, sometimes even Roman emperors couldn’t afford the stuff! Third-century emperor Aurelian very famously wouldn’t allow his wife to buy a shawl that was made with purple because it quite literally cost its own weight in gold. 
It wasn’t until the mid 19th century however that purple became more accessible to the lower classes due to an 18-year-old English chemist called William Henry Perkin. In 1856, Perkin accidentally created a synthetic purple compound whilst attempting to synthesize quinine, an anti-malaria drug. Very casual activity for the average teenager then eh? He quickly realised that this compound could be used to dye fabric and so patented the dye and manufactured it under the name aniline purple. It’s safe to say he swiftly made a fortune with people jumping at the chance to have such a coveted shade. The creation of a synthetic purple dye also meant that the use of molluscs and Tyrian purple began to fade away alongside the view that purple was a colour only for the very heights of human society.