Puce is a brownish purple color. The term comes from the Frenchcouleur puce, literally meaning "flea color".[1]
Puce became popular in the late 18th century in France. It appeared in clothing at the court of Louis XVI, and was said to be a favorite color of Marie Antoinette, though there are no portraits of her wearing it.[2][3][4]
Puce was also a popular fashion color in 19th-century Paris. In his novel Nana, Émile Zola describes a woman "dressed in a dark gown of an equivocal color, somewhere between puce and goose shit."[5] In Victor Hugo's Les Misérables, Mademoiselle Baptistine wears "a gown of puce-colored silk, of the fashion of 1806, which she had purchased at that date in Paris, and which had lasted ever since."[6]
The color to the right is the color called puce in the ISCC-NBS Dictionary of Color Names (1955). Since this color has a hue code of 353, it is a slightly purplish red.
The color box to the right shows the color called puce in the 1930 book by Maerz and Paul, A Dictionary of Color;[7] the color puce is displayed on page 37, Plate 7, Color Sample H4.
At right is the color called puce in the Pourpre.com color list, a color list widely popular in France.
This is the original puce, from which all other tones of puce ultimately derive.[citation needed]