“Electric purple” isn’t a shade I’d say has ever been a serious part of my own sartorial lexicon. In saying that, there was a time before Spanish it-girl brand Paloma Wool was the coolly restrained, subversive Paloma Wool we know it as today, when they were putting out jewel-toned corduroy jumpsuits. One in particular was a brilliant Skittles purple shade, in a style that would have fit better on the Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band cover art than Barcelona’s Eixample streets. That balshie, bold color palette has long been scrubbed away from Paloma’s now cool-toned IG aesthetic, and I sold the jumpsuit on Depop for cheap when my own personal take on color theory said the same. After that brief dalliance, I have not, for some time, seen myself as a purple girl—of any hue. Aubergine? Maybe sometimes. Lilac? Hell no. Royal purple? Not yet.
And then the fall 2025 runways began to pepper in electric purple. While the previous season was defined by lithe, lighter shades of lilac and lavender—alongside the requisite butter yellows and cornflower blues—fall 2025 goes deeper, more sumptuous. At Gucci—an interim collection following the departure of Alessandro Michele—there were some era-hopping Gucci-isms: Michele’s moddish ’60s shapes, De Sarno’s silky slips, and glam details that recalled Tom Ford’s ’90s tenure. But a continuous thread was a Daphne Blake-esque purple; in pea coats, sheer dresses, billowing blouses, and a monochromatic heels and stockings combo. “A continuum of craft, taste, and culture that passes through time,” is how a press release described the show—the jewel color defined a kooky yet stoic sense of glamor for a house in flux.
The color purple has long been associated with royalty and spirituality, and electric purple is a way various designers and houses chose to express their own version of power and—once again—louder luxury. At Miu Miu, it was stomping go-go boots. At Alexander McQueen, Seán McGirr took it a few shades more gothy for his Oscar Wilde-inspired characters in eggplant-y ruffles. Nina Ricci by Harris Reed revelled in the women who danced the nights of the ’70s away, with sensuous fabrics, opulent jewel-colored faux-furs, animal-print slips, strong shouldered velvet blazers. Colleen Allen’s irreverant collection celebrated the female form and spirit, proposing a self-described “divisive” purple among celery greens and cerulean blues. Purple and fluoro-flecked Fair Isle clothed Anna Sui’s 1930s screwball comedy heroines.
Photo: Umberto Fratini / Gorunway.com
Photo: Alessandro Lucioni / Gorunway.com
Photo: Courtesy of Gucci
Photo: Salvatore Dragone / Gorunway.com
Sumptuous purples have continued to find their way into the wardrobes of celebrities enjoying this louder sense of style right now: Timothee Chalamet, not yet done with Wonka, doing some “vintaje” shopping in an open purple shirt; Meryl Streep as the stern, severely stylish Miranda Priestly in Dries Van Noten; Tracee Ellis Ross color-blocking with Barney purple and acid yellow; Pamela Anderson in a regal gown to top off her ’60s press run style.
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