Prince's legacy continues to live on — and now, the Purple One is being memorialized with a custom Pantone color.
The Prince Estate announced the news on Monday, in conjunction with the Pantone Color Institute. Pantone's new purple hue is named for Prince's Love Symbol, and the color was inspired by his signature purple Yamaha piano.
The estate notes that Prince had planned to bring the piano on tour with him before his death in April 2016.
Purple became Prince's signature color thanks to 1984's Purple Rain. He gained the nickname "Purple One" and won a Best Original Score Oscar for the film, in addition to winning seven Grammy Awards in his lifetime. In 2004, Prince was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
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"The color purple was synonymous with who Prince was and will always be. This is an incredible way for his legacy to live on forever," Troy Carter, entertainment adviser to Prince's Estate, said in a statement.
As Rolling Stone explains, Prince changed his name in 1993 to the unpronounceable symbol, which was eventually copyrighted as "Love Symbol #2." The graphic was featured on Prince's 1992 Love Symbol Album before the name swap.
The change was apparently a dig at Warner Bros., the label that included his recording contract. Warner Bros. reportedly wanted Prince to release albums at a slower pace than he wanted, because of the label's marketing strategy. According to Rolling Stone, the name change was "largely to mess with" the company. Prince changed his name back in 2000, after his contract was over.
"Love Symbol #2 is emblematic of Prince's distinctive style," Laurie Pressman, the Pantone Color Institute's vice president, said in a statement. "Long associated with the purple family, Love Symbol #2 enables Prince's unique purple shade to be consistently replicated and maintain the same iconic status as the man himself."
Now that the custom Pantone color exists, the Prince Estate can use the hue on future product collaborations — so you might just see the new Love Symbol color pop up again soon.
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