Purple color palette: 22 shades of purple, with hex codes
Every purple in our 12 seasonal color palettes, from pale orchid to royal purple. Tap a color to copy its hex code. Below the list: which purples suit which season, and what to wear them with.
By Jane MitchellCertified color analystPublished
All 22 purple colors, with hex codes
Lightest first. The line under each name says how many of the 12 seasons wear it.
Which purple colors suit you
The purple shades in each season's palette, most first. The neutral beside each is one from the same season to wear with them.
Light Summer 4 shades
pale orchid, soft lilac, soft raspberry and soft plum. Wear with soft white (#F4F1EC).
Deep Winter 4 shades
icy lavender, wine, deep violet and royal purple. Wear with pure white (#FFFFFF).
True Winter 4 shades
icy lavender, vivid purple, royal violet and deep violet. Wear with pure white (#FFFFFF).
Bright Winter 4 shades
icy lavender, vivid orchid, vivid purple and bright violet. Wear with pure white (#FFFFFF).
True Summer 3 shades
soft orchid, cool lavender and cool aubergine. Wear with soft white (#F0EFEC).
Soft Summer 3 shades
soft mauve, soft plum and muted aubergine. Wear with soft white (#EDEAE4).
Light Spring 2 shades
orchid and light violet. Wear with ivory (#F6EFE2).
Bright Spring 2 shades
vivid orchid and bright violet. Wear with bright ivory (#FFFDF5).
Deep Autumn 2 shades
deep plum and aubergine. Wear with warm cream (#EDE0C8).
True Spring 1 shade
warm violet. Wear with cream (#F2E6CE).
2 seasons have no purple by our rule. That is data, not a gap: those palettes do not use purple.
Warm and cool purples
A purple is warm or cool by the seasons that wear it: Springs and Autumns are warm, Summers and Winters cool.
Warm only (5)
- Orchid#E4A8D2
- Light violet#C9A8E0
- Warm violet#7E57C2
- Deep plum#6C3483
- Aubergine#4A235A
Cool only (15)
- Pale orchid#DCC9DE
- Icy lavender#E1BEE7
- Soft orchid#D0C0D8
- Soft lilac#B8A4CC
- Soft mauve#B08BA5
- Soft raspberry#C2739A
Worn by both (2)
- Vivid orchid#D500F9
- Bright violet#651FFF
Purple outfit ideas
Three outfits, one from each of the seasons that hold the most of this color: a main piece, a second color and a neutral, all from that season's own palette.
Light Summer
Soft plum as the main piece, pale orchid as the second color, soft white for shoes and bag.
Deep Winter
Royal purple as the main piece, icy lavender as the second color, pure white for shoes and bag.
True Winter
Deep violet as the main piece, icy lavender as the second color, pure white for shoes and bag.
Using this purple palette for a design
For a website, a room or a brand, copy the hex codes from the list above. The shades of one season already work together, so a set taken from one season card reads as a planned palette. For a calmer base, add shades from the green color palette or the pastel color palette. To see one of these colors next to every other color, use colors that go with every color. For ready combinations, see three colors that look good together.
How we picked the shades
We pooled the wearable palette and the neutrals of all 12 seasons on this site, 271 different colors, and measured each in CIELAB: lightness (L*), chroma (C*, how strong the color is) and hue angle. A shade is in this palette when it is a hue angle from 290° to 350° (violet to plum) with C* 12 or more, so lavender, mauve, plum and violet count. Blues reach into the same angles, so a shade named blue, cobalt, navy, indigo or periwinkle stays out.
No shade is typed by hand, and no paint or fashion brand is used. The same shade can be in two palettes, for example a light pink in both the pink and the pastel palette.
What this page cannot do
This page shows which seasons wear each purple. It cannot tell you which season you are: that depends on your own skin, hair and eyes, in good light. Our free analysis reads them from one selfie, in your browser, and gives you your own palette with every purple that suits you.
How this is different from other color analysis tools
- 01
Your photo stays on your device
Many photo apps upload your selfie and read it on their server (see our comparison). Ours measures it in your browser. There is no upload.
- 02
The result is free
Your season and palette, with no account and no email. At least one app in our comparison takes payment before you see any result.
- 03
A close call says so
Every result names the runner-up season and how close the call was. Borderline is a result we print.
- 04
We publish our accuracy
We tuned the method on faces that experts had labelled by season, then tested it on 410 celebrity photos we collected. The results, misses included.
Questions
What colors are in a purple color palette?
Our purple color palette holds 22 shades from the 12 seasonal palettes, among them pale orchid, icy lavender, soft orchid, orchid, light violet and soft lilac. Each one has its hex code on this page.
Which color season looks best in purple?
Light Summer holds the most purple shades of the 12 seasons (4), followed by Deep Winter (4) and True Winter (4). By family, Winter leads. 2 of the 12 seasons have no purple shade by our rule.
What colors go with purple?
Each season pairs its purples with its own neutrals. For Light Summer that is soft white. For a design, green and pastel shades from the same seasons sit well beside it.
What are the hex codes for purple colors?
For example pale orchid #DCC9DE, icy lavender #E1BEE7, soft orchid #D0C0D8, orchid #E4A8D2 and light violet #C9A8E0. All 22 are listed at the top of this page, and one tap copies a code.
What you can do on this page
This page is a purple color palette of 22 named shades, each with its hex code and a one-tap copy, taken from the 12 seasonal color palettes on this site by a stated CIELAB rule. It shows which purples each season wears with a neutral to pair, splits the shades into warm, cool and both, and builds three outfits from the seasons that hold the most. The free photo analysis finds a season from one selfie in the browser, with no upload and no account.
More on color palettes
Part of the Color Analysis Encyclopedia: every article on color palettes.