1856 In Color

William Perkin, in 1856, famously gave the world its first synthetic dye when he was trying to do something else (producing synthetic quinine).  The byproduct of his experimentation gave the world a blast of color even those who have heard of Perkin - or his dye, mauveine - has largely forgotten, because so many who study don't always see.

Image:  Wikimedia

Images of genuine dresses from the 19th century sometimes shock people.  We think of history in sepia tones, and the reality of aniline dye overturns all our expectations either of languidly lit, romanticized Victoriana - or of frumpy, potato-colored drudgery.  (Of course, potatoes can dye a purplish sort of hue, but that's a post for someone else's blog.)

Aniline was eye-popping, and quickly grew beyond its first hue, mauveine (don't think of the drab tone of mauve - here you go) into colors we might call garish compared to the staid expectations later ideas and nostalgia painted over the reality of historical costuming.  The reality was strong stuff - exuberant, even.  In fact, aniline color was just as powerful as the design itself, of the second half of the 19th century:

Copyright:  Victoria and Albert Museum

Brutal angularity in the transition, extravagant volume and textile in the polonaise styling at the bustle, acres and acres of ruching and ruffling, trims, and every seam - designs like this were meant to showcase cut and fabric - and color was a massive presence in design.  There's no way around the acid shades of the era, and there's plenty of documentary and even, as above, surviving textile evidence of their vividness.  Critics decried the fashion for these new dyes with parodic names modeled on illnesses (mauve measles); but, as we certainly know, brights were here to stay.  With the advances in mass production and increasing availability and decreasing price for chemical color, we've never looked back.  Just today at lunch, Cute Shoes and I shared a charming bistro with a very large contingent of Red Hat ladies.

Image:  Wikipedia

Mind you, there's a lot to be said for woad, too - and natural dyes rightly have regained a great following in the 21st century (remember that comment about potato dye?).  But obviously the chemicals ... are color stay.