Purple is any of a variety of colors with hue between red and blue. In the RGB color model used in computer and television screens, purples are produced by mixing red and blue light. In the RYB color model historically used by painters, purples are created with a combination of red and blue pigments.
The color purple has been associated with royalty, power and wealth for centuries. In fact, Queen Elizabeth I forbad anyone except close members of the royal family to wear it. Purple’s elite status stems from the rarity and cost of the dye originally used to produce it. originally because Tyrian purple dye, made from the mucus secretion of a species of snail, was extremely expensive in antiquity.
It was the color worn by Roman magistrates; it became the imperial color worn by the rulers of the Byzantine Empire and the Holy Roman Empire, and later by Roman Catholic bishops. Similarly in Japan, the color is traditionally associated with the emperor and aristocracy.
According to contemporary surveys in Europe and the United States, purple is the color most often associated with rarity, magic when combined with pink, it is associated with eroticism, femininity, and seduction. Being just a few wavelengths up from x-rays and gamma rays it also has the strongest electromagnetic wavelength which makes it the hardest colour to discriminate visually.
