Heritage
Tyrian purple, extracted from the murex snail in Phoenicia, took some 12,000 snails to yield enough dye for the trim of a single garment and was the literal definition of expense — Roman law restricted who could wear it. Mauve, the first commercially successful synthetic dye, was discovered by accident in 1856 by an 18-year-old chemistry student trying to make quinine — the discovery launched the synthetic-dye industry and helped give rise to its near relative, the pharmaceutical industry. Quinacridone violet is one of the modern fade-resistant purples.