Abstract: The present invention is a colored contact lens whose color is produced by Bragg diffraction. The contact lens includes a hydrogel comprised of either dimethyl acrylamide, HEMA (hydroxylethyl methacrylate) or 3-(trimethoxysilyl)propyl methacrylate and a light diffracting crystalline colloidal ordered array of particles polymerized in the hydrogel. The crystalline colloidal ordered array has a fixed lattice spacing.