I think the confusion regarding the color of Elizabeth Taylor’s eyes is really confusion about the color violet.
In the spring, my whole front yard is filled with violets. They are really beautiful, but they are most definitely NOT purple. Violets are a deep blue. Not blue like the sky, but a deep blue. I can’t compare the color to anything else other than violets. I guess that’s why violet is a color in its own right. It’s like nothing else.
If you want to know what color violet is, go out and find some violets. Violets are a spring flower that usually blooms in May. You can find them in fields, meadows and large yards that don’t get mowed frequently.
Here is a good representation of violet blue. Google has some pictures of purple violets, but they are mostly African violets. The regular violets I was refering to are the kind you can find growing wild. This is a beautiful picture of wild violets that are violet blue. I do think this is pretty close to the color of Elizabeth Taylor’s eyes.
Here’s another good pic of wild violets with the true “violet blue”. Notice how they are growing among clover, so you know they are not potted African violets which are house plants.
I’ve heard a few times that she really had light blue eyes, the sort that tend to change shade, and it was just reflection from her customary eye make up that made them look purple. I know a lot of people like that, so it’s easier to believe than the fact that she had eyes unlike anyone else.
The theory makes me want to experiment given my genetically blue eyes naturally range from gray to blue-green, and clothes do affect the color but I never wear purple. I want to find a purple shirt and some purple eye shadow now…
There are a ton of pictures of Elizabeth Taylor’s face on Google’s Image search. Her eyes definitely look violet in some of them, but not on others. And they do seem to change depending on what she’s wearing. Sometimes they even look light blue or brown or green. But then you have to consider the quality of the photography and whether the photo was artifically enhanced or has degraded through time. I can’t help but feel that she eyes that would pass for violet anyway, or she wouldn’t have been known for them for so long. Surely somebody would have outed her if it was all trickery.
I have Central Heterochromia, I have now discovered. Well, I always knew I had it, but I didn’t know it had a name. The Wikipedia article doesn’t say, and now I’m wondering how common it is.
Heh, the first thing I thought when I saw the thread title was, “only in descriptions of fanfic or other heavily-online writing.” Then I saw your parenthetical and was a bit amused, heh. To me, “violet eyes” is such a common trope in online fantasy-ish fiction that if I saw a description mentioning it, I’d immediately have a negative assumption about the overall quality of the piece. I’m not saying your work is of bad quality (I haven’t seen it), but my reaction above I’d actually pretty mild compared to what I’ve seen elsewhere. If you don’t care, it’s all good.
While your other picture shows violets that are blue, I’d say these are definitely violet: blue-violet if you are into crayola color rather than artistic ones (for which violet is more blueish and purple is more reddish.)
