diff --git a/clutter/clutter-color.c b/clutter/clutter-color.c
index 221f9f4de..e81e911d2 100644
--- a/clutter/clutter-color.c
+++ b/clutter/clutter-color.c
@@ -432,6 +432,28 @@ clutter_color_from_string (ClutterColor *color,
 
               return TRUE;
             }
+          else if (strlen (str) == 7)
+            {
+              /* #rrggbb */
+              color->red   = (result >> 16) & 0xff;
+              color->green = (result >>  8) & 0xff;
+              color->blue  = result & 0xff;
+
+              color->alpha = 0xff;
+            }
+          else if (strlen (str) == 4)
+            {
+              /* #rgb */
+              color->red   = ((result >>  8) & 0xf);
+              color->green = ((result >>  4) & 0xf);
+              color->blue  = result & 0xf;
+
+              color->red   = (color->red   << 4) | color->red;
+              color->green = (color->green << 4) | color->green;
+              color->blue  = (color->blue  << 4) | color->blue;
+
+              color->alpha = 0xff;
+            }
         }
     }
   
diff --git a/tests/conform/test-color.c b/tests/conform/test-color.c
index 685ec708c..a19323bd9 100644
--- a/tests/conform/test-color.c
+++ b/tests/conform/test-color.c
@@ -119,6 +119,34 @@ test_color_from_string (TestConformSimpleFixture *fixture,
   g_assert (color.green == 0);
   g_assert (color.blue  == 0xff);
   g_assert (color.alpha == 0xff);
+
+  clutter_color_from_string (&color, "#abc");
+  if (g_test_verbose ())
+    {
+      g_print ("color = { %x, %x, %x, %x }, expected = { 0xaa, 0xbb, 0xcc, 0xff }\n",
+               color.red,
+               color.green,
+               color.blue,
+               color.alpha);
+    }
+  g_assert (color.red   == 0xaa);
+  g_assert (color.green == 0xbb);
+  g_assert (color.blue  == 0xcc);
+  g_assert (color.alpha == 0xff);
+
+  clutter_color_from_string (&color, "#123abc");
+  if (g_test_verbose ())
+    {
+      g_print ("color = { %x, %x, %x, %x }, expected = { 0x12, 0x3a, 0xbc, 0xff }\n",
+               color.red,
+               color.green,
+               color.blue,
+               color.alpha);
+    }
+  g_assert (color.red   == 0x12);
+  g_assert (color.green == 0x3a);
+  g_assert (color.blue  == 0xbc);
+  g_assert (color.alpha == 0xff);
 }
 
 void