History Main / ColorCodedPatrician

* The patriarch in a troop of gorillas is called a "silverback" due to the distinctive patch of silver fur that male gorillas develop upon reaching adulthood.

* The color called Tyrian purple actually looks more like maroon than your typical violet; the finest-grade dye was often described as 'dried blood'. It came from the mucus of a certain kind of Mediterranean seashell, the Murex, and required so many of them to make even the smallest amount of dye that it was worth twice its weight in silver. Expensive stuff, due its high cost there were legal limits on the amount anyone could wear at one point to prevent lavish waste. Cheaper purples were possible, by overdying a blue with a red, but they tended to be muddy and not very colorfast.
** When the artificial purple dye mauvine was invented in the nineteenth century, it was sometimes marketed as 'Tyrian purple' and soon became associated with political radical movements such as suffragism--the implication being "if everyone can wear purple, then everyone is a king, therefore everyone is equal".

* A clear, bright, non-fading red was also rare, as it required either kermes (crimson) or cochineal (scarlet), once the Americas were discovered. Both of these are insects, and the dye is derived from their bodies. Given equal amounts of kermes and cochineal dye, the cochineal would dye 10 to 12 times more fabric. There were cheap red dyes, made from various plants (lichens and madder), but the colors these dyes produced tend to the orangey-red rather than a clear, bright crimson.

** Saffron, that super-expensive and delicious spice (being, no joke, the very-delicate styles and stigmas of crocus flowers), also doubled as one of the finest yellow dyes.

** To show how seriously Catholics take this non-obligatory rule, there was a great deal of conservative Catholic sniffing when Cherie Blair, the very-Catholic but also republican-inclined wife of then UK Prime Minister UsefulNotes/TonyBlair met with Pope Benedict XVI in late April 2006 wearing white. At the time, conservative Catholic commentators argued that her outfit was an intentional slap in the face to both Catholic tradition (as Tony was not at that point Catholic) and the Queen (since Tony was the head of government, not the head of state). As it turns out, however, Mrs Blair did not intend to wear white to her meeting with the Pope; she was at a conference at the Vatican the Pope was not expected to attend when His Holiness unexpectedly summoned her for an audience. Being a good Catholic, Mrs Blair immediately responded to the summons, and had no time to change out of her clothes, which happened to be white (considered a good/fashionable colour for late April in Rome).
** In fact it's because of this trope that it's easy to identify where in the hierarchy of the Catholic Church a certain prelate stands (if they are in fact abiding by the dress code of course). Black (white in tropical climates) is the standard color for the everyday attire of all ranks below UsefulNotes/ThePope, with varying colors used for the cap, sash, and "choir dress" (worn when attending liturgical functions). Black is used for priests, amaranth red (which is somewhat purplish in hue) is used for bishops and archbishops, and scarlet (known as ''sacred purple'') is used for cardinals. While all white is normally associated with UsefulNotes/ThePope, it is actually taken from the habit of the Dominican Order (one pope back in history was Dominican, and his successor liked the look and kept it). A few other orders wear all-white habits, such as the Norbertines.

** In fact it's because of this trope that it's easy to identify where in the hierarchy of the Catholic Church a certain prelate stands (if they are in fact abiding by the dress code of course). Black (white in tropical climates) is the standard color for the everyday attire of all ranks below UsefulNotes/ThePope, with varying colors used for the cap, sash, and "choir dress" (worn when attending liturgical functions). Black is used for priests, amaranth red (which is somewhat purplish in hue) is used for bishops and archbishops, and scarlet (known as ''sacred purple'') is used for cardinals. While all white is normally associated with UsefulNotes/ThePope, it is actually taken from the habit of the Dominican Order (one pope back in history was Dominican, and his successor liked the look and kept it. A few other orders wear all-white habits, such as the Norbertines.

* According to the ''Series/DoctorWho'' story ''The Deadly Assassin'', the majority of Gallifrey's political power is held by the Prydon Chapter, who are signified by their scarlet and orange ceremonial robes, while all the other chapters wear various other colors. This distinction seemed to be lost when the new series brought them back, although WordOfGod was that it was supposed to be unity during the time war.

* In ''Series/{{Star Trek|the Original Series}}'', Starfleet officers wear gold, blue or red depending if they are Command, Science, or Support Services (gold & red reversed in ''[[Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration TNG]]'' & subsequent.) It is a little inconsistent, but Medicine & Biosciences seem to wear light blue, Social & Behavioral Sciences a medium blue, and Physical Sciences a very dark blue.

This largely started because certain colors were highly expensive and thus, only the most wealthy could afford them. Then the patrician class in Rome declared that the dye [[PurpleIsPowerful Tyrian Purple]] would be [[DressCode exclusively for them]] (at least, within Roman territory), hence the trope name. (Note that "purple" is actually kind of misleading as a translation; the actual color was more what we'd describe as purplish-red. Don't expect to see this reflected in TV and movie depictions of Roman patricians unless they're being very, very scrupulous with their research.)

** To show how seriously Catholics take this non-obligatory rule, there was a great deal of conservative Catholic sniffing when Cherie Blair, the very-Catholic but also rather leftist and republican wife of then UK Prime Minister UsefulNotes/TonyBlair met with Pope Benedict XVI in late April 2006 wearing white. At the time, conservative Catholic commentators argued that her outfit was an intentional slap in the face to both Catholic tradition (as Tony was not at that point Catholic) and the Queen (since Tony was the head of government, not the head of state). As it turns out, however, Mrs Blair did not intend to wear white to her meeting with the Pope; she was at a conference at the Vatican the Pope was not expected to attend when His Holiness unexpectedly summoned her for an audience. Being a good Catholic, Mrs Blair immediately responded to the summons, and had no time to change out of her clothes, which happened to be white (considered a good/fashionable colour for late April in Rome).

* In ''Film/GuardiansOfTheGalaxyVol2'' the Soverign are mostly gold anyway, so one way this is shown is when the High Priestess visits a winter planet. Her subordinates wear [[PimpedOutCape gold capes]] lined with [[PrettyInMink white fur]], while her cape is mostly covered with white fur.

Compare PrincessesPreferPink, GracefulLadiesLikePurple, TrueBlueFemininity, ColorCodedCharacters, ColorCodedMultiplayer, LawOfChromaticSuperiority, GoldAndWhiteAreDivine, and YellowPurpleContrast (yellow for Asian factions versus purple for Byzantine / Roman factions).

* ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaBreathOfTheWild'': The ''Champions' Ballad'' DLC reveals the blue color on the Champion's Tunic, Zelda's dress etc. is actually the color of the royal family, awarded to the Champions by the king during an official ceremony.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheSmurfs'': Papa Smurf wears red, where (almost) everybody else wears white. Grandpa Smurf - who is no longer a leader, but used to be one, and is considered a great adviser - wears yellow.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheSmurfs'': Papa Smurf wears red, where everybody else wears white. Grandpa Smurf - who is no longer a leader, but used to be one, and is considered a great adviser - wears yellow.

Compare PrincessesPreferPink, GracefulLadiesLikePurple, TrueBlueFemininity, ColorCodedCharacters, ColorCodedMultiplayer, LawOfChromaticSuperiority, GoldAndWhiteAreDivine, and YellowPurpleContrast (yellow for Asian versus purple for Byzantine / Roman).

Compare PrincessesPreferPink, GracefulLadiesLikePurple, TrueBlueFemininity, ColorCodedCharacters, ColorCodedMultiplayer, LawOfChromaticSuperiority, GoldAndWhiteAreDivine.

* In Franco Zefferelli's ''Film/RomeoAndJuliet,'' the Prince wears deep purple, setting him apart from the blue Montagues and red Capulets.
** Incidentally, this color choice is [[ShoutOut echoed]] in the Play Within A Play of ''Film/ShakespeareInLove.''

** In fact it's because of this trope that it's easy to identify where in the hierarchy of the Catholic Church a certain prelate stands (if they are in fact abiding by the dress code of course). Black (white in tropical climates) is the standard color for the everyday attire of all ranks below UsefulNotes/ThePope, with varying colors used for the cap, sash, and "choir dress" (worn when attending liturgical functions). Black is used for priests, amaranth red (which is somewhat purplish in hue) is used for bishops and archbishops, and scarlet (known as ''sacred purple'') is used for cardinals. An all-white attire is reserved only for the Pope.

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/JustinianMosaic_3893.jpg]]

** Princess Yue is the only one of the water tribes to wear purple.
** Gran Gran wears purple as well. [[spoiler: Of course, she was originally from the Northern tribe before she ran away due to her engagement, so maybe she was somebody important up there too. In the present, her son is the chief, and while him and all the other men were away at war, Kanna herself was the de facto leader of their village.]]
** Katara, [[spoiler: Kanna's granddaughter]] is another example, though not played quite as straight; she started out wearing a blue coat just accented with purple, but even so, she and Kanna were the only women in their village to wear any kind of purple. [[spoiler: Naturally, for Katara, it's because she's the chief's daughter, much like is the case with Princess Yue. Her status as the only Waterbender the South Pole has may be part of it as well.]]
** In "The Fortuneteller", Aunt Wu, the de facto ruler of her village, is the only one to wear a gold robe. All other residents wear shades of green, blue, or pink.
** Mai, a Fire Nation aristocrat, also wears (dark) purple, [[spoiler: possibly to foreshadow a future as Queen of the Fire Nation]].
*** "[[Recap/AvatarTheLastAirbenderTheEmberIslandPlayers The Ember Island Players]]" also does this with Yue, but in a different direction, as she wears {{p|rincessesPreferPink}}ink instead of purple.

Compare PrincessesPreferPink, GracefulLadiesLikePurple, TrueBlueFemininity, ColorCodedCharacters, ColorCodedMultiplayer, GoldAndWhiteAreDivine.

* Surprisingly, to most modern people, a true ''black'' was an incredibly difficult and expensive color. There is no natural dye that produces a true black; the best way to achieve it was to overdye "black" wool (which is usually a really dark brown) several times, and it still resulted in a fugitive color, fading to brown or greyish-blue quite quickly.
** Even today, people still need to take care of their black clothes to make sure they don't fade.

* In China, yellow was associated with the Emperor because the first syllable of the traditional title ''huangdi'' sounds identical to the word for yellow. In historical dramas, this usually manifests in the Emperor wearing yellow clothing or awarding it for some service. The various grades of officials were also distinguished by color; blue, green, red, and purple.

Compare PrincessesPreferPink, GracefulLadiesLikePurple, ColorCodedCharacters, ColorCodedMultiplayer, GoldAndWhiteAreDivine.

Often, you can tell who is in charge by the colors they wear. This can apply to [[RoyalBlood royalty]], [[BlueBlood nobility]], [[BlingOfWar military leaders]], and even just the town mayor. Plus, this can apply to all of the clothes they wear or just a sash worn over a fancy suit (as long as they aren't the only one wearing it).

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* In Franco Zefferelli's ''RomeoAndJuliet,'' the Prince wears deep purple, setting him apart from the blue Montagues and red Capulets.

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** Princess Yue. As noted, she's the only one of the water tribes to wear purple.

*** In "[[Recap/AvatarTheLastAirbenderTheEmberIslandPlayers The Ember Island Players]]" also does this with Yue, but in a different direction, as she wears [[PrincessesPreferPink pink]] instead of purple.

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** The dye from the murex, interestingly enough, turns ''blue'' when exposed to sunlight before being fixed to the cloth. This is why this is considered likely to be the source of ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tekhelet tekhelet]]'', the dye Jews are commanded to use to color few threads in the ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tzitzit tzitzit]]'' (fringe-tassels) of their ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tekhelet tallit]]'' (prayer shawls). Today there is [[JewsLoveToArgue much argument]] about whether the sun-treated murex dye is proper for use in ''tzitzit''; the original dye is long-LostTechnology, and for some Jews absolute certainty is vital in such matters.

** To show how seriously Catholics take this non-obligatory rule, there was a great deal of conservative Catholic sniffing when Cherie Blair, the very-Catholic but also rather leftist and republican wife of then UK Prime Minister UsefulNotes/TonyBlair met with Pope Benedict XVI in late April 2006 wearing white. At the time, conservative Catholic commentators argued that her outfit was an intentional slap in the face to both Catholic tradition (as Tony had not yet officially converted from High Church Anglicanism to Catholicism) and the Queen (since Tony was the head of government, not the head of state). As it turns out, however, Mrs Blair did not intend to wear white to her meeting with the Pope; she was at a conference at the Vatican the Pope was not expected to attend when His Holiness unexpectedly summoned her for an audience. Being a good Catholic, Mrs Blair immediately responded to the summons, but she had no suitable clothing in any colour other than white (light colours being the appropriate shades for late April in Rome, and Mrs Blair not expecting to stay for more than a few days).

* Traditionally, the Vatican has had a strict dress code about people who met with the pope--among the rules was that women always had to wear black, except for female Catholic monarchs and the wives of male Catholic monarchs, who could wear white (a rule called ''privilège du blanc''). Following this code is no longer obligatory, though Cherie Blair (wife of former UK Prime Minister UsefulNotes/TonyBlair, noted for both being a Catholic and leftist with republican, anti-monarchy tendencies) caused some controversy when she wore white at a meeting with Pope Benedict XVI in 2006 (both as a possible violation of protocol--though she was Catholic, Tony wasn't yet--and a slap in the face to the [[UsefulNotes/TheHouseOfWindsor Queen]]--as Tony wasn't head of state but rather head of government). (As it turns out, Blair did not really choose to wear white; she happened to be attending a conference at the Vatican--one the Pope was not expected to attend--when the Pope suddenly invited her for an audience; she did not have a chance to change, and happened to be wearing white that day.)

** Incidentally, this color choice is [[ShoutOut echoed]] in the Play Within A Play of ''ShakespeareInLove.''