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The dye obtained did not easily adhere to fabrics, making purple fabrics expensive. Purple became a fashionable color in the state of Qi (齊, 1046 BC–221 BC) because its ruler, Duke Huan of Qi, developed a preference for it. As a result, the price of purple fabric was over five times that of plain fabric.
Because it was extremely tedious to make, Tyrian purple was expensive: the 4th century BC historian Theopompus reported, "Purple for dyes fetched its weight in silver at Colophon" in Asia Minor. The expense meant that purple-dyed textiles became status symbols, whose use was restricted by sumptuary laws.
Exotic fabrics were available, at a price; silk damasks, translucent gauzes, cloth of gold, and intricate embroideries; and vivid, expensive dyes such as saffron yellow or Tyrian purple. Not all dyes were costly, however, and most Romans wore colourful clothing.
Sumptuary laws were created in medieval Europe, which restricted the wearing of expensive colors such as purple, obtained from seashells of the Mediterranean to the nobility. [10] Colors of clothing have specific associations with certain types of clothing styles and symbolize cultural beliefs.
[page needed] The elite typically wore purple as a sign of wealth and money as it was the most expensive dye due to the difficulty in acquiring it. [4] [ page needed ] The ancient Greeks also embroidered designs into their clothes as a form of decoration.
These materials were expensive and the wearer showed greater status by wearing them. On the other hand, cheaper and thicker linen was used within the lower class, where shorter garments were worn by the working class for better mobility in the fields.
Regulations governing the use of expensive Tyrian purple dyestuffs varied over the years, but cloth dyed in these colours was generally restricted to specific classes and was used in diplomatic gifts.
The middle class could usually afford to dye their wool colours like blue and green. The wealthy could afford to add elaborate designs to their clothing as well as dying it red and black, expensive colours for the time. Purple was also considered a colour of royalty and was reserved for kings or religious figures such as the pope.
It was colour-fast, extremely expensive and the "most talked-about colour in Greco-Roman antiquity". Romans categorised it as a blood-red hue, which sanctified its wearer. The purple-bordered praetexta worn by freeborn youths acknowledged their vulnerability and sanctity in law.
Good-quality purple fabric was too expensive for ordinary people. The first cobalt violet , the intensely red-violet cobalt arsenate, was highly toxic. Although it persisted in some paint lines into the 20th century, it was displaced by less toxic cobalt compounds such as cobalt phosphate.