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Could there possibly be a color with a longer, more vast, and extensive history such as the color purple? The verdict: most likely not. Purple shares close ties with the ancient world. Therefore, when wearing purple sports sweatbands think about the turbulent, but fascinating, history that surrounds that beautiful hue that is the color purple.
Purple is regarded as closely associated with royalty, piety, and magic. When looking at a color wheel, one can find it between red and blue, which if mixed together, yield the color purple.
Many people will go through their lives wearing purple and not realize how much history and conflict purple has caused as it blazed its path as a fashion statement for the rich and powerful.
Who knew that a set of purple sweatbands could hold and contain so much history within a wearable terrycloth band.
To gain a better understanding of the once extravagant and tempestuous color, taking a look at the history of its origin can be a helpful resource and tool.
History of Purple
Originally called Tyrian Purple in ancient times, the original dye formula was made by extracting a mucous from sea snails called murex. A phenomenal amount of mucous was required to yield only a small amount of dye, making it both very rare and very expensive.
According to ancient mythology, it was Hercules who discovered the color after his dog ate a murex snail and began to drool purple saliva.
Due to its rarity and expensive price, wearing purple was a sign of wealth or royalty in ancient times. Royalty such as Persian Kings and Roman emperors adopted purple as the official staple of their royal uniforms due to the uniqueness of the color. Emperors of Rome were known to pose a strict penalty of death on any citizen found to be wearing purple.
As a way to put things in perspective, History.com noted that one pound of wool dyed purple cost more than the yearly income of most citizens of the time. The price tag alone of the purple dye was obviously enough to save most citizens' lives.
It was rumored the Julius Caesar sailed to Egypt to visit Cleopatra with a ship that had purple sails and containing purple sofas. During his trip, Caesar acquired a purple toga. Upon his return, he declared that only he could wear togas the color of purple.
During the rule of Henry VIII on England, it was a crime to wear purple since it was known to be the color of royalty. Henry Howard, who was then the Earl of Surrey, was convicted an tried for high treason. As a part of the evidence used against him, Henry VIII accused him of wearing the color purple. Since purple was the color only Henry VIII, the king, could wear, this was seen as a somewhat reasonable offense in the eyes of rule makers of the time.
However, purple declined in popularity in the 15th century along with the fall of the Byzantine Empire. It was not until the 1850's that the color regained popularity.
A young English scientist by the name of William Henry Perkin accidentally created a synthetic purple dye in 1856 while attempting to create a synthetic version of quinine, which is a drug used to treat malaria that is extracted from the bark of the cinchona tree found in South America. At the tie of his invention, Perkin was a chemistry student at the Royal College of Chemistry. His accidental invention thus sparked the renewed fascination in the color purple. This time however, the color was less expensive to make, and therefore more available to the masses. As a way to increase its appeal, Perkin renamed the color known as Tyrian Purple to mauve, instead of renaming the historic color after himself.
Imagine how expensive a wearable purple sweatband would be if it wasn't for Perkin's invention. It would be considered high fashion, and subsequently outrageously priced.
Due to the history that purple is steeped in, it is still regarded as a particularly interesting color that still garners the attention of people in today's day and age.
The Meaning of Purple
Since purple can be made by combining red and blue, it adopts and joins blue's calmness and red's fierceness. As previously described , purple is know to resemble nobility and royalty, along with power and luxury. Purple also represents creativity, wealth, dignity, peace, devotion, and magic.
If you seek a workout at a a gym, purple sweatbands can easily be coordinated with nearly any workout clothes or outfit.
Who knew that wearing a plain purple sweatband could mean all of those things? When wearing a purple sweatband, take pride in the vastness of this particular color as most of what it represents are positive or neutral attributes. The meaning alone could be enough to fuel your stamina as you work out your muscles.
When and Where to Wear your Purple Sweatbands
By this time, purple has been used to color clothes and other fabrics for decades. As a way to make it fashionable and interesting yet again, add a set of purple sweatbands to your head and wrists as a part of workout outfits and outfits to perform other grueling tasks.
Since purple is a fashionable color for both men and women, there is really no limitation to where it can be worn. Sweat isn't limited to the gym or just while working out, therefore it is practical to wear this whenever you expect to sweat. Sweatbands will helpfully keep the sweat out of your eyes and from dripping onto your hands.
Since purple represents creativity, the purple sweatbands can also be used while performing yard work, house work, home improvements, or general construction tasks to keep the creative juices flowing. If you were to loose your creative energy, all that one would have to do is look in a mirror to become re-inspired with creativity. A purple sweatband can also inspire creativity while at the gym or during a workout.