Fashion and colour trends

Psychological aspects of colour often seem more emotional and personal than scientific. We first see colours in nature whence colours and dyes came originally. Pigments were ground by hand from natural ingredients or adapted from plant dyes. The Egyptians found blues from minerals, the Greeks and roman purple came from mollusks, yellows from safflower, reds from madder and later blues from indigo. However the introduction of synthetic dyes during the past century means that virtually any shade can be achieved today and 'rare' colours have become a thing of the past. Consequently, as colour has become more available, it has also become a sophisticated indicator of social trends, environments and culture.