Conference turris::womannotes-v2

    Well, frankly, the first time I saw Liz's "Purple Power" slogan,
    I thought she was expressing support for the Nashua High School
    Purple Panthers, whose supporters also chant "Purple Power."
    
    :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :)
    
    --bonnie

    Personal answer follows -- someone else can answer for any groups
    they know of.

    A couple of people have asked me about my attachment to purple; I'll
    try to explain it. I feel a connection to the color. It makes me feel
    strong and powerful, so I tend to wear it a lot. (People bring me
    purple articles they find and ask if I've lost them. Others complain
    when they can't find purple on me after doing a quick check. Relatives
    have started giving me purple presents.) Really, I do like other
    colors, but purple has been my favorite for a long time.
    

    liz

    p.s. bonnie, know where i can get a "purple power" pennant? (grinning
    at the very thought)

    Um, yes, actually -- the Nashua High School students have a souvenir
    shop in the cafeteria.  It's open during lunch hours and maybe other
    times; I haven't been there in a couple of years.  
    
    If you never get to Nashua at noon I can see if I can find a NHS
    student to buy one for you.  
    
    --bonnie

    I climb ice and a rock here and there.  Purple and Red are the colors
    I use to identify my gear.  Everyone gives me purple too, I even
    have a purple teddy bear!!  Purple is big time vibrant next to red.
    Good Stuff, vibrant colors!!!
    
    Dondi

    btw, i seem to remember that one of the suffragettes didn't like
    thinking about color coordination, so her entire wardrobe was purple
    (sigh). unfortunately, i can't remember her name, and i couldn't find
    the reference when i did a quick check this morning. does anyone know
    more about her?
    
    liz 

    It sounds like a good idea to me.  
    
    I'm wearing a purple cotton jumpsuit today . . .
    
    --bonnie

"Lavendar Jane Loves Women"

Lavendar/Purple is associated with Lesbians and Gays and Gay Pride.

                 Carol

    re .8, I don't know if it's a book, but "Lavender Jane Loves Women"
    is definitely the title of a record by Alix Dobkin, Kay Gardner,
    and Patches Attom. Quoting from the review in the Ladyslipper catalog:
    "The first blatantly lesbian album we know about (1974)".
    
    Chuck

    Time now to concoct a V2 intro, I suppose, not to mention maybe a
    pointer to Ladyslipper in the resource note.

    My understanding is that the color lavender was how early feminists
    would identify each other.    If a woman was in a strange town she
    might wear lavender as a way of proclaiming herself to other women
    who believed in women's rights.  Now, I don't know for certain, but
    I seem to remember hearing that this was done was in the 1870's-1910's.
    I can easily see how lesbians would come to associate themselves with
    the same color.
    
    Tamar

    I always thought purple was considered a Regal color and people
    were drawn to because of that.  Liking Purple made them stand out
    that they were a special kind of person because they like purple.
    
    Maybe some people still do......and if they do, go to the Purple
    Panache in Faneuil Hall Market place, I also have the address for
    their catalogue if anyone is interested ???  I used to be a fanatic
    about purple but have slowed down a little.
    
    
    TammyG

    I have always loved purple; growing up, my bedroom had lavender
    walls.  I wear lavender and purple because it makes me feel pretty
    and feminine.  I usually wear something purple or lavender every
    day, and I have a lot of purple things (including stuffed animals
    and pictures).  Also, my husband thinks I look good in lavender.
    
    K.C.

    Purple is also the color of Jesus' robe in the Bible.  That is why
    it is associated with royalty.  I have on a lavender dress today.
    Shades of purple make me feel calm and serene.  I also feel very
    feminine in purple's.  The carpet in my bedroom is lavender and
    I have lavender's and blues and grays in my comforter. 
    
    

    The violet/purple end of the spectrum is also associated with
    spirituality. I think (correct me if I'm wrong here) that if
    one's aura has a lot of this color in it, one is supposed to be
    very spiritual, or spiritually evolved...
    
    --DE
    

    re: .14
    
    Purple was associated with royalty long before Jesus.  
    
    Purple dye was very expensive, so only royalty and the rich-as-
    royalty could afford it.  It came from the crushed shells of
    certain snails that live in the Mediterranean.  The Egyptians,
    Assyrians, and others used to fight huge wars over who controlled
    the areas where the dye-snails grow.  (Norman Mailer's _Ancient
    Evenings_ has some interesting scenes of such a war.) 
    
    In [I think] the book of Acts, it is mentioned that Paul stays
    with a woman named Lydia, who is an elder in the church and a dyer
    of purple.  She would have been an extremely wealthy woman. 

    --bonnie    

    Can't a person like a color without a lot being read into it?
    
    K.C.

    
    Yup - I've also read that purple showing up in someone's aura indicates
    a strong spiritual interest. Although obviously this would be further
    coloured by the other shades showing up around it and also where
    it is on the person.
    
    And re: .17
    Of course you can just like a colour......it's just that you've
    got a crowd of inquisitive, creative people reading this topic who
    are interested in *why* you like it!
    
    Abigial
    

    re .-1
    
    You know, I never really thought about why I like purple and lavender
    so much.  I still don't know why; I've just always felt pretty in
    the color (I am wearing a purple shirt today, and already people
    have commented on how nice I look.  I thrive on compliments.  :->)
    
    I guess that it's just my color!
    
    K.C.

Once, when I was wearing my purple dress, a friend came up
and asked me if I wore purple because of a newly-published study 
indicating that scientists find the color attractive.  I wish now 
that I'd gotten the citation from him.  (This was between 1984-86.)

(I *think* he was serious ...)

Jane

    I saw a bumpersticker the other day in our parking lot and it showed
    a purple teddy bear, and said something like "A world without purple
    would be unbearable"...
    
    I am taking 'dance lessons, and decided on a purple veil....
    
    -Jody
    

    re .20
    
    A friend of mine used to have a dress for success book that
    catagorized what colors men were attracted to by their job.
    As I recall purple was the color engineers and advertising
    executives were supposed to be attracted to.  The only
    reason I remember is because my friend wore a lot of 
    purple at that time to attract a certain civil engineer
    she had her eye on.  She subsequently married and divorced
    him.  So maybe it does work....sort of.
    
    Personally I have my doubts.
    
    Nanci

    Purple is such a regal color, rich, deep, vibrant. I LOVE PURPLE!
    (It is also my favorite color). I have deep purple MAJESTY IRIS
    growing in my flower garden. I also think it is a romantic color.
    Thank god it's one of "my colors" (according to BEAUTY CONTROL).
    My next house is going to have amethyst colored carpet in the bedroom,
    and the main bathroom.

My mother associates the color with 'old maids'. Drives me crazy!
	Mez

    To me any color is important if it makes me happy to be around it.
    Money green is lovely when in your pocket, but the color looks dreadful
    on me.  Conversely, I look good in pinks, but my grocer refuses
    pink money.  All a matter of your need.
    
    )..))))))
    
    Peg

	Since I saw this note I have been trying to get some friends to
pick up some(even one)  PURPLE POWER pins.  I remember them being purple
with white lettering.  If I ever get one, I'll send it over.
That was our high school (football) motto.  I had hoped some would go to the 
turkeyday game and see if they still have them.   Oh well, I'll keep trying.

					KB

Wow - I never knew there was so much symbolism to liking purple. It has
been my favorite color since high school. I wear a lot of it, and people
tend to give me things in purple also. I never thought about why I like
it, I just do.

Muggsie
 

    Purple is a great color!  Unfortunately here in Germany it has a bad
    reputation; people that wear purple are supposively at their "very
    last" try....(for love, money, career..)  - similar to the "old maid"
    syndrome.
    
    Rose

During the Victorian era, lavender clothing had a very specific
function in society.  A woman who wore lavender showed that she
was in the second stage of mourning: "half mourning".  The time
period during which she would have to wear black depended upon 
the closeness of the ties between her and the person she mourned.
After that time was over, she would switch to lavender trimmed 
with black, then lavenders and grays, then eventually normally
colored clothing.  It is interesting to note that during this
historical period, when the cult of mourning made detailed and
specific demands upon women and young girls, the only signs of 
mourning that a man EVER wore were a black armband, or tassels
on the hat of a male pall bearer.  Perhaps this is related to 
the popular Victorian notion about women being so much more 
subject to their emotions than men. (Or perhaps it has to do 
with men being permanently stuck in black frock coats, anyway.)

    Re: .29
    
    I believe the practice of half-mourning colors was used even earlier
    than the Victorian era, at least in the Regency and Georgian eras
    and possibly earlier.

    This is an extremely interesting topic -- glad I found it!!
    Purple has always been my favorite color -- as long as I can remember.
    I love a lot of colors, particularly bright ones, but I have a special
    attraction for purple.  When I was a little girl, I had two favorite
    things to wear -- a purple and orange outfit and a purple and green
    smocked dress.  OK, it was the Seventies; but I still think purple
    looks great with green, like in a petterned scarf.
    
    My great aunt's favorite color is purple also, and she is a lefty
    like me -- so these two things make me feel bonded to her in special
    ways.
    
    I, like someone said, am not as wild over the color as I used to
    be -- I went nuts over purple as a teenager and still get purple
    stocking stuffers from my mother -- but it will always be my favorite
    color.  I especially like purple flowers, such as lilacs, iris,
    and lavender.
    
    

    The D.C. pro-choice rally requested that people wear white and purple,
    right?  I thought, "Why purple?"
    
    So I made up a reason in my head that sounded plausible: 
    
       Purple/lavendar is made from pink and blue and is therefore
       androgynous in terms of color code in this society!
    
    Guess I was wrong and people just *like* it!  :-)
    Pam