I Am A Purple Addict

I confess I am a purple addict – this will come as no surprise to anyone who knows me.

I Am A Purple Addict

My clothes of choice have shades of lilac and purple. My large scarf collection is dominated by purples. Want to guess my favorite nail varnish? Oh, and my favorite underwear is (oh wait…. too much information).

Purple Hair?

To confirm that I am a purple addict I occasionally streak my hair with purple. Barnet Boy says I have to walk ten paces behind him. Someone else suggested I should buy a hoody but I don’t care, it’s purple and I love it! Have to be a bit careful what I wear with it though.

So what made me dye my hair? Simple. I had been running HOST Policy Research, a research and evaluation organisation for 30 years until I retired in 2016. Because of the high level meetings I attended, I always had to be careful with my appearance.

I always wanted to play with hair color but reigned myself in.  There was a distinct craving to wear more flamboyant clothes rather than somber suits. My brightly colored scarves, large crystal earrings and rings were the nearest I got to revealing my true character. After 30 years I thought what the heck. I should have done it years ago.

Warning Purple

I always loved the poem ‘Warning’ by Jenny Joseph. Some of you will know it. It starts:

“When I am an old woman I shall wear purple
With a red hat which doesn’t go, and doesn’t suit me.
And I shall spend my pension on brandy and summer gloves
And satin sandals, and say we’ve no money for butter.
I shall sit down on the pavement when I’m tired
And gobble up samples in shops and press alarm bells
And run my stick along the public railings
And make up for the sobriety of my youth.”

Here is the author reading the poem.

Proof I am A Purple Addict

You can see that I am a purple addict from my art. At some point shades of purple, even if very subtle, creep into my work. As you can see above in an example from my Barnie Paw Print Designs.

Of course, as a color, purple is very important in healing art and has some spiritual significance. Violet/Purple relates to the 7th chakra at the top of the head. It relates to wisdom, spirituality, psychic awareness, higher self and motivation.  Therefore I use it a lot in my healing art and color harmony work.

So, I confess, I am a purple addict – and proud of it!

This article was originally published in 2016 and updated and republished 24 March 2022.

Before you go

My name is Dorothy Berry-Lound an artist and writer. You can find out more about my art and writing at https://dorothyberryloundart.com.

You can follow me on Facebook and Mastodon.

Thank you for reading!