Purple Is Having a Moment: Here’s How to Wear It, Grow It & Decorate With It
I’ve always had a love/hate relationship with purple. For years I kept it in the garden, where it felt safe: a front yard filled with lavendar, a rift of salvia here, nepeta bordering my walkways, wisteria taking over the pergola whether I asked it to or not. But lately I’ve been letting it in through the front door, if you know what I mean. I have to say I am rethinking it. This week’s Sunday Faves is a love letter to the full spectrum, from the softest whisper of lavender to the richest, darkest plum. Let’s talk about why purple works, how each shade behaves, and the specific ways I’m using it across the three areas of life I care most about: the garden, the home, and getting dressed in the morning. Let’s join Mary Ann and Annie for our Sunday faves and chat about how purple is having a moment and how to wear, it grow it, decorate with it and even eat it!!
Purple Is Having a Moment: Here’s How to Wear It, Grow It & Decorate With It
#1 In the Garden: the great Harmonizer
If there’s one color that works harder than any other in a mixed border, it’s purple. It softens the hot oranges and reds, lifts the whites, and makes every green around it rock. A garden without purple just doesn’t seem quite right.
I have always loved the deep purple echiums, salvias, and the buddleias. And then there’s wisteria. I know it’s a commitment. I know it will try to eat your house. But when it blooms in May, dripping those long racemes of lilac and violet over a pergola or a stone wall, there is truly nothing like it. If you have the right structure and a little patience, it is worth every moment of the pruning.. They thrived in my former garden and struggle a bit here. I paired them with the softer hues of the nepetas and lavenders. The gray green leaves of lambs ears, olive, and salvias are a natural counterpart. The thing about purple in the garden is it is a workhorse. Most of those I have named bloom their hearts out all summer long if cut back.
And then there’s wisteria. It was a commitment (particularly for Steve). IIt will try to eat your house. But when it blooms in May, dripping those long blooms oflilac and violet over a pergola or a stone wall, there is truly nothing like it. If you have the right structure and a little patience, it is worth every moment of the pruning. We can’t grow it here, but I have fond memories of its beauty.
#2 In the Home: Purple Without the Risk
For years, purple in interiors meant one of two things: a child’s bedroom accent wall, or a late-90s mistake you were still apologizing for. Neither is a great look. But we’re in different territory now, and I want to make the case that purple,handled with the same intention you’d bring to any other color can add the same harmonizing factor in your home ase in your garden. I am not personally on board with the paler versions of the hue, but I have recently considered a deep eggplant pillow. Deeper violets and plums are where things get interesting in living rooms and dining rooms. Don’t shy away from them if you love them.
House and Garden-23 Rooms that Prove Purple is Making a Comeback
There’s no denying that purple can be tricky, but designers are increasingly showing how the right shade can transform a space . Here are some of House and Garden’s faves.
#3 In the Wardrobe: Purple can be a Sophisticated Neutral
You can find the link to the outfit above in my post Resort Wear for Women Over 60 here.
I’ve been wearing more purple in the past couple of years than in the previous decade combined, and I don’t think that’s an accident. Something shifted and suddenly the colors I’d reflexively passed over were the ones calling me. My friend, neighbor and color consultant, (now passed) had been telling me I should wear it for years.
Here’s what I’ve learned about purple wardrobe styling: the shade you choose says everything. Violet and bright purple require confidence I admit. Paired with chartreuse (another fave of mine) it is dynamite in my opinion.
Plum and aubergine, at the darker end, are my personal territory. They behave almost like a navy or a burgundy in my summer closet, but with more personality.
Outfits of the Week
Shop the Looks
#4 Loi’s Beautiful Lilacs on Instagram
Do you follow Loi Thai on Instagram. He just shared the most beautiful lilac bouquet a few days ago. They seriously took my breath away.
#5 On the Plate
Purple cauliflower is considered healthier than white because it contains anthocyanins. These powerful antioxidants, also found in red cabbage and blueberries, provide added anti-inflammatory and heart-health benefits that white cauliflower lacks. Both types are excellent sources of Vitamin C, fiber, and potassium however.
Roasted Purple Cauliflower with Crispy Chickpeas and Lemon Herb Dressing
I am making this recipe from Big Delicious Life this week . It is right in my wheelhouse.
Why Now? Why Purple?
I think we’re drawn to purple in this moment because it occupies a particular emotional register that feels right:” it’s contemplative but not cold, rich but not aggressive, romantic without being naive”. In a design culture that has been immersed in greige and warm white for the better part of fifteen years, purple offers an interesting alternative.
It also spans the seasons in a way that few colors manage. Lavender is spring and summer. Plum and aubergine carry autumn and winter. Violet works year-round in the right hands. That kind of versatility makes it worth the investment, whether you’re choosing a pillow, a paint color, a new border plant, or a coat that you intend to wear for a decade.
I’ll be bringing more purple into my own life this year. I have my eye on a particular plum for some pillows and I’ve just ordered some new purple options for the garden. If any of this has nudged you in the same direction, I’d love to hear what you’re planning.Happy Sunday, and happy exploring. Now let’s pop over and visit Annie and Mary Ann for their Sunday faves.
If you have missed any of my Sunday favorites and you would like to catch up, you can do so here.
Editors Note:
My friend Janie, who I’ve had the great luck of knowing since high school, reminded me just now that Jenny Joseph’s poem When I Am an Old Woman I Shall Wear Purple is now available in book form. I love that. It ties last Sunday’s post — What My Garden Has Taught Me About How to Live — right back to this one, in the best possible way. Wear the purple. Grow the purple. Live the whole thing.
Cindy what an inspiring post to add more lavender and purple tones to our lives. I especially love the look on you with the pink top and printed skirt! I too have been told to wear lavender and resisted, but now really liking it more than I ever have. I think it looks great in the garden too.
I love a lavender wall color!
Can’t wait to see you next week. xo
What a gorgeous bouquet of lilacs!! I could almost smell their lovely spring scent!
I don’t mind shades of purple. I love you in the bright mauve with the lime pants.
I’m not sure I’m brave enough to wear it in any shade although I have a gorgeous pair of aubergine velvet Laura Ashley jeans which I wear in winter, with a navy sweater, lightweight navy loafers and navy quilted swing jacket. And I adore amethyst gems – have a ring I bought in Bangkok which I cherish and yet have barely ever worn. I wonder if I could have it reset as a long, louche pendant.
I’d also love to know what you feed your salvias and nepetas to have them looking sooo healthy. My garden is almost drought-dead. Or at the very least hibernating until we get some rain.
I miss lilacs since moving out to Colorado in 1995 from Iowa. I could still garden then and that rich dar soil in Iowa with all of the rain they get, you can grow anything. Here in the high mountain desert it is very dry, no rain or snow in a couple of months. Our snow pack is down to 46% so everyone relies on our Colorado River and our Arkansas River for water, better start planning for water restrictions now with plants. I love pale purples but can’t wear it in the summer. Your garden is just spectacular!
I love your posts-the last 2 have hit home with me-thank you for the inspiration!
Hi Tara
I am so glad you have enjoyed them!!
Love purple salvia in the garden! Lovely post thank you Cindy.
Well you are smack in my wheelhouse now! Purple is my favorite color but in judicious doses. My bedroom walls are a muted lavender tilting towards grey blue. I find it so restful and also it complements my coloring which I think bedroom wall color should always do. So bring on the lavender, the eggplant, the magenta, and the violet into the garden, the house and the plate! Life would seem dull without it.
LOVE you in purple, Cindy. I love how you said it’s the great unifier in a garden.
So last week’s Sunday post was one of the most contemplative essays I believe I’ve ever read online. It put me in mind of a wonderful piece in the McGuffey 4th reader where a young girl is struggling to write a composition, and her mother tells her to write what she sees out her window. And now this week is all about purple, says, “lately I’ve been letting it in through the front door, if you know what I mean,” yet somehow doesn’t mention Jenny Joseph’s “Warning”‘s last verse? The second verse is my favorite–here is the whole thing:
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.
I shall go out in my slippers in the rain
And pick the flowers in other people’s gardens
And learn to spit.
You can wear terrible shirts and grow more fat
And eat three pounds of sausages at a go
Or only bread and pickle for a week
And hoard pens and pencils and beermats and things in boxes.
But now we must have clothes that keep us dry
And pay our rent and not swear in the street
And set a good example for the children.
We must have friends to dinner and read the papers.
But maybe I ought to practise a little now?
So people who know me are not too shocked and surprised
When suddenly I am old, and start to wear purple.
Hi Mary
I love that poem!
So happy to see your post in my inbox. Always a visual treat! Was looking at the purples and couldn’t help but think of the plum color that Laura Ashley used in the 1980’s and ’90’s. Such a lovely and rich color. Am off to the garden: an untimely frost nearly decimated a flower bed. Am restocking it with predominately purples! Adding to the foundation plantings, a hypertufa container that will be spilling over with annuals, red knock out roses, grasses, anise hyssop, delicate yellow daisies, and a few exclamation points of white florals- probably salvia. Going to embrace purple in a big way!
My bedroom when I grew up was painted a soft lavender; it was very calming and when it was hot in the Summer felt cooler. The sheets wee also cotton and lavender..more cooling noted! I love purple orchids, lilacs, and all kinds of bulbs that make purple flowers. Thank you for this reminder. Donnie
I love purple in the garden. I have lots of pots(10) to fill that edge our parking area. Yesterday we bought Spanish lavender to fill them. We are not the first tenants of this place. The pots have been planted with several things over the years and some magically come back during the spring, California Poppies, Nasturtiums and a mystery flower. I think the lavender will be good company to the volunteers and give some lovely continuity to the garden. The wisteria in our neighbor’s house is beautiful today. But you are right it can be invasive when planted next to the house. Maybe along our fence in the future.
I love to wear purple and lavender as well. Scored some lavender Rothys at TJ Max . So fun and unexpected to wear.
Cindy, I have always had a soft spot for purple. I think for the reasons you suggest, plus it was my friend Lorna’s favorite color. I gave her a purple pair of Tory Burch flats for her birthday one year! I love wisteria and lilacs; there’s nothing more beautiful than all those shades of purple! I always love seeing your garden!
xx
Not so much a purple person, except for the garden.
But lately, my white hair makes me consider purple, like the top here….https://emersonfry.com/collections/lt-tops-shirting/products/wip-emmaline-blouse-violet-wildflower
Never thought about it before…. 🤔
Hi Gray
I haven’t ordered from them in such a long time. I was very disappointed in the quality of the last items I ordered. Has it improved? I never wore purple until my hear turned white either!!