Writers constantly refer to Elizabeth Taylor’s “violet eyes”. Violet is a type of purple. Yet, in none of the color photographs I’ve seen of Elizabeth Taylor, nor in any of her color movies, do her eyes appear violet. They look blue. Beautiful, but blue.
As she says on the White Diamonds commercials, N’est-ce pas?
Go watch National Velvet. Her eyes are very clearly violet.
Her eyes are blue. But with that shade of blue and her black hair, especially with the right makeup (and lighting, according to my mother), her eyes do look violet.
Like butrscotch said, you can see her violet eyes in National Velvet, and another movie I recall seeing the violet colour of her eyes was in The Taming Of The Shrew.
I guess she does have violet eyes, although we all don’t see the same exact colors as each other, and some aren’t able to see the subtle differences between light blue and violet…I barely can.
They do kinda look blue here…you have to really concentrate to see a violet…http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2003-6/129656/liztaylor.jpg
AFAIK, violet isn’t actually a color of eyes that people can have, at least genetically. From various things I’ve read, in all probablity, she has blue eyes. However, her eyes, being like my own, are subject to taking on other colors: both my parents are blue-eyed, which would mean I’ve inheritied all blue genes, but my eyes will often took green, aqua, or grey, instead of blue depending on what I wear, how much sleep I’ve gotten, and if I’m angry or ill. A lot of blue-eyed people have eyes that change color, they just haven’t come up with a nifty label for it like “hazel” yet.
Some people do have eye colour that varies. My sister has blue eyes that sometimes change to green or grey. Often when she wears brown eyeshadows her eyes seem a really bright blue, so I guess the makeup and other colours she’s wearing can change the hue. The same is probably true with Elizabeth Taylor, even though she has usually been described as having violet eyes.
Sure it is, but considering Elizabeth Taylor is famous for her violet eyes, I’d have to guess that they probably are violet…at least most of the time.
elfkin477, I just did a quick search and it seems violet is recognised as an eye colour. I got this from http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A734933:
Red irides are a result of albinism. Albinism is where there is no melanin in the melanocytes at all. Therefore all of the blood vessels (in the iris and retina) are seen and a redder appearance is given. In practice only very few albinos have red eyes, the blue reflections of the collagen show up stronger and so most have blue/grey or even brown. The mixing of red and blue reflections can also give rise to violet eyes.
And this tidbit from http://sln.fi.edu/tfi/units/life/forums/anatomy/0908990101.html:
Dark blue, violet, etc. are functions of the optical nature of the stroma’s physical relation to the iris. If the cells in the stroma are dense and deep, a dark blue or violet results.
elfkin477, my brother’s eyes are violet. They are very similar to the pictures that have been linked showing Liz’s eyes. However, if it is darker and his eyes aren’t catching the light, they look like a blue/purple. If he looks directly at the light, they are indeed violet. Neither of his parents (my mom and step dad) have violet eyes. If he didn’t look so much like his father, I would have thought he was the milkman’s baby.
I’ve always wondered about that. I have blue eyes that for the most part are unremarkable, but at times they’ve been so “Paul Newman” blue that people have accused me of wearing colored contacts even when I’m clearly wearing eyeglasses.
I look at the link you sent, Necromancer - could be violet, could be blue…
I always assumed it was a combination of the already-mentioned “blue eyes can look different in different light and depending on the person - tired, etc…” aspect, and clever marketing/myth-making on the part of Liz and her publicists. I can easily see some Hollywood hype magazine from the 50’s laying it on thick about her - she was one of the most famous, beautiful, high-fashion glamorous women in her day, a cross between Madonna and Nicole Kidman - and the writer making some reference to her violet eyes to play up Liz’s exotic-ness, glamour and rarity. And it just stuck as shorthand…
Are they really violet? - in the right light, etc…sure. Is Liz a “violet-eyed woman” in terms of her nature and her celebrity? You bet.
I have been told that green, grey, and violet are variations on blue. Specifically, they are mutations. The only genetic eye colors are blue and brown. Anything else is a mutation. Hazel is a mutation, but I do not know of what. My dad has grey eyes, but people always think they’re blue because they reflect the color he’s wearing, which is usually blue.
Somebody tell me if I’m mistaken or misinformed.
