Fast-forward to 1856. A teenage British chemist named William Henry Perkin was trying to cure malaria—because why not start small? Instead, he accidentally created a synthetic purple dye while messing with coal tar. He called it mauveine. Queen Victoria loved it, and suddenly purple was trendy, not just for royalty but for everyone with a few shillings.
Perkin became rich, malaria remained unsolved (sorry, William), and purple became the official color of “I bought this on a whim and now my entire wardrobe clashes with it.” But hey, it’s a beautiful clash.
10 Purple Motivational Quotes
Why Purple Is Basically the Beyoncé of Colors
Purple has psychological superpowers. Studies show that people associate it with royalty, wisdom, and mystery—but also decadence and creativity. Some surveys even suggest that purple is considered “sexy” by a surprising number of people. Not as sexy as red, but let’s be honest: red is the color of a Ferrari. Purple is the color of the car you drive to a séance.
In fact, purple is so powerful that it’s the official color of the Enneagram Type 4 personality. You know, the “artistic, brooding, ‘I’m not like other people’ types” who drink expensive matcha and write poetry about rain. We love them anyway.
