The Color of Royalty

Purple!  A great color that has been popular on the runways and in the home for a couple years now.  It's a color that is going to stick around awhile longer.

Historically, the color has been associated with royalty and power.  Legend has it that purple became a royal symbol around 1600 B.C. when King Phoenix, ruler of Phoenicia (present day Lebanon), received a purple-dyed robe from a man named Herakles.  Supposedly Herakles' dog discovered the purple dye by eating snails along the coast causing his mouth to always be stained purple!  It would take over 10,000 shellfish to extract 1.5 grams of the pure dye.  As a result only the rich and powerful had access to this color.  The dying method of using shellfish (and insects) was used until the mid 1800s when the synthetic dye was invented.

Right now popular purples include plums and soft meditative grey-ish purples.  Check out these pretty pictures I found that use purple well.

The next two pictures pair purple with warm tones.  Very pretty.

AD Annabelle Selldork

Matthew Patrick Smith 

The picture below is in the home of motorcross star Ricky Carmichael.  Pretty and simple with white.

AD

 Another pretty room that pairs purple with white.

Canadian House and Home

 The following pictures are from the home of artist Gray Foy.  I love how the purple is the backdrop for all the beautiful artwork and antiques.

A couple pretty bathrooms.

Canadian House and Home

BHG

Pairing purples with pops of yellow is fun.

Canadian House & Home

HB David Kaihoi

 Purple is barely there in these pictures.  Very pretty.

Atlanta Homes and Lifestyle

Canadian House and Home

Canadian House and Home

 A home beautifully done by Hal Williamson for a young couple in New Orleans.  You can see more of the home here...House Beautiful.

Worn by Natalie Portman, Hollywood royalty...

Worn by soon-to-be royalty...

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