Mauve Mania

It’s 1856 in London, and 18-year-old William Perkin is in the search for a cure to malaria when he stumbles upon something else. At the bottom of his test tube he sees a reddish lump. He dips cloth into it and discovers a purple dye. He becomes the first person to successfully market synthetic dyes.

Gus Casely-Hayford tells the story of the craze that follows, nicknamed “mauve mania”. It starts with a purple dress worn by Queen Victoria and filters down to the masses who, until this point, did not have access to rich coloured dyes. Before Perkin’s discovery led to an explosion of synthetic dyes, clothes were coloured with berries, with tree bark, ground up insects and other natural ingredients. These colours didn't bind well to the cloth and would often fade quickly.


The legacy of the synthetic dyes is that textile dyeing and finishing mills use about 200 tonnes of water for every one tonne of textiles produced. These dyes and their mix of pollutants are difficult to remove from the wastewater and they often enter sewers and rivers. A new generation of entrepreneurs are working to produce bacterial dyes that they hope will have less of a negative effect on the environment.

With author Kassia St Clair, entrepreneur Natsai Chieza and a historical letter sent to the inventor William Perkin.

Presenter: Gus Casely-Hayford Executive Producer: Rosie Collyer Producer - Tiffany Cassidy Assistant Producer: Nadia Mehdi Production Coordinator: Francesca Taylor Sound Design: Rob Speight

A Novel production for BBC Radio 4