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Home > Textiles and Design > Area of Study: Design > Mauve: The colour that changed the world

Mauve: The colour that changed the world - Answers

1. When was the first synthetic dye discovered?
   1856
   
   
2. What impact did this discovery have on consumers and the textile industry in the society?
   The dye Industry grew because the new synthetic dye became the model for further synthetic dye colour development. In addition to this, purple coloured cloth was now accessible to more people than royalty and the very wealthy in society and this created more interest in fashion for everyone. Today there is approximately 8,000 distinctly different dyestuffs being manufactured all over the world and sold under 40,000 trade names. (http://www.dyeman.com/Dye%20summary.html )
   
   
3. Identify the natural source of the colour ‘purple’.
   The mollusk.
   
   
4. Why was the colour purple once only affordable to royalty or the very wealthy?
   Because extracting the purple colour from the mollusks was very labour intensive and expensive.
   
   
5. List the symbolism attached to the colour purple.
   Power, royalty, mysticism, mourning, sorrow, suffering.

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