Turquoise and Violet: Trend or Tradition?

Recently I was asked about one of the latest colour palette trends for Summer; Turquoise and Violet; why is it so popular? Why are we drawn to it, is there a particular reason for this?

So it got me thinking, how did this palette evolve, as I am sure there was a time when we all would have frowned on the combination, but why? I thought about it and perhaps it would have been that they were too similar. I became intrigued as I never would have given it a second thought before.

I am guessing by now most of us are no strangers to recent trends like colour blocking, or using a contrasting colour pop like an orange belt on a blue dress, or the whimsical art of print clashing and the most recent tropical storm of Miami Prints (Primark have done this one extremely well haven't they?)

I began to think that somewhere in this mix emerged our new colour palette of the season. So I did a bit of research, and to paraphrase Jennifer Aniston  "Here comes the science!".....

A foundation in colour

From the colour wheel we see the obvious harmony with blue as the primary colour and purple it's secondary. But we are also mixing different tones together, blue is obviously a cool colour but when mixed with red it becomes purple, a much warmer colour.

Here is another colour wheel I found with the correct colour names of the secondary colours. Maybe they probably sound familiar to you already? I couldn't help but think of replacing my ink-printer cartridges when I saw Cyan and Majenta. But now that I look at them again I am getting a cocktail on the beach vibe ...Sigh!

Sticking with technology, I can't tell you how much I always enjoy picking out a font colour from a computer programmes illustrated spectrum of colour. I think it is a perfect example of harmony for many different colour palettes.

Here is an example of a colour spectrum wheel.

Nature's Grand Design

My next idea was to look for elements of Turquoise and Violet in nature. We know that nature's colour schemes can inspire us all, particularly in fashion, so I did a bit of brain-storming which lead to a bit of googling and I came up with a few examples:

Flowers

  Birds

Marine Life

All of these lead me to think that nature planned these colours to get notice, perhaps using the lighter blue tone to accent the purple and make it more visible. So flowers need to stand out for cross-pollination and birds feathers must be vibrant and colourful to attract the opposite sex (FYI David Attenborough's Birds of Paradise documentary is well worth a watch).

In the case of marine-life pictures I was brought back to the movie The Abyss; which is visually an iridescent and etheral masterpiece. Life in the deep is dark, and although these puirple and blue tones are complimentary to that envirnment they can also become luminous and iridescent creating visiblilty perhaps for reproductive and predatory reasons.

Celestial Vibes

Aurora Borealis, or the Northen Lights, creates an ethereal colour spectrum that mystifies and inspires us to this day. The above image shows us amazing tones of Turquois and Violet, but there can be many different colour combinations.

Jewel Tone Echoes

Finally, I thought about the richness and vibrancy in jewellery stones and how different colour stones work well together throughout the ages. Here are some examples of antique jewellery pieces that will show how Turquoise and Amethyst, as it is known, have always been complimentary companions.

1960s Pearl Drop Earrings

Navajo Indian Jewellery

This fantastic jewelled bib necklace belonged to Wallis Simpson

So in retrospect we may not have always considered it likely to pair these two colours together, but luckily Nature has made it so we couldn't help but be drawn in by their beauty.

Hope you enjoyed this little piece, any thoughts?

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