BY ADRIAN LEIGHTON

The Meaning Of the Color Blue, And Why It’s A Good Choice For Dresses

We love blue dresses, so let’s look at why blue is so popular and what it can mean.

Did you know that blue is said to be the most popular color, especially amongst men? Certain studies suggest that the highest number of people responded that blue’s their favourite, and we’re surrounded by blue logos, ads, and clothing. 

Notice how blue changes in coolness depending on if it’s brighter or darker and has other colors like green added to it.

Why Did We Start Using Blue?

Humanity has been using blue and making blue dresses for many thousands of years, as it’s one of the colors that can fairly easily be made into dyes from naturally occurring plants and minerals.

Blue dyes have been used for a long time, as they could be made from rocks and plants. For example, the Scots would paint their bodies blue before battle in an effort to frighten their enemies.

Blue started to be used extensively by the ancient Egyptians in painting, clothing, and jewelry, as it was associated with their Gods and religion as well as its beauty. This tradition and certain techniques were carried on through the ages by the Romans for instance and then into modern times.

Blue was recognised for its beauty by the Ancient Egyptians. Here you can see it used widely on Tutankhamun’s funeral mask dating from 1323BC.

Everyone probably thinks that purple is the color of royalty, but is only one of the popular colors for royalty, red and blue being the others. The French kings started wearing blue in the Middle Ages (around the 13^th Century) and this caused blue’s popularity to really take off amongst normal people and to this day we still see a lot of blue dresses and other clothes!

The Meanings Of Blue

Unlike the in the past, people don’t wear blue dresses these days because it’s the King’s favourite color!

These days we tend to choose blue based on our beliefs and feelings about this color.

Blues, especially darker tones like Navy Blue, are well-known as projecting corporate power and masculinity, therefore it’s important to consider how you’re going to use blue when you’re a woman, and which tone you desire; this is especially true for brides planning their wedding colors.

Blues are popular with women who desire to project their power and masculinity in a business or political sense.

Blue may be seen as more masculine because of its relationship with male babies, but did you know that even as recently as the early 1900s in the West blue was a girls color, and pink was for boys?
This is because people were more religious in those days, and blue was the color of the robes worn by the Virgin Mary, whilst pink was derived from red which was thought to be a very masculine color.

Nowadays we’d know this is a little girl due to the pink clothing, but it wasn’t always the case…

Blue, like most colors, has positive and negative meanings. Let’s look at them:

The Positive Meanings Of Blue

If you agree with any of these meanings then you’ll probably love wearing blue dresses:

• Spirituality and faith
• Calmness and serenity
• Spaciousness
• Cleanliness and fresh air
• Our dreams
• Calm and thoughtful
• Trustworthy and secure
• Faithfulness
• Intelligence
• Confident
• Technology
• Success and power

I certainly agree that blue is a very calming color, and think of how many big companies use blue in their logos (Facebook, Microsoft, Ford, GE, HP, Samsung, Intel etc).

The Negative Meanings Of Blue

Blue isn’t always seen as a very positive color though, which is why we must take care when choosing to wear it. I’m sure you’ve heard of the phrase, “Feeling blue,” Right? That means feeling sad or down.

• Sadness and feeling depressed
• Cold
• Plain
• Formal
• Old-Fashioned

I think it’s especially dark blues that give a very ‘cool’ vibe, so it’s better to wear dark blue dresses or clothing in a formal environment as by its nature it’s not very casual in large amounts.

Blue Dresses You’ll Like

Thanks to this very long history there’s no shortage of blue dresses if you’re a fan, and you can start by checking our store’s range of blue dresses and accessories.

Blue is a very popular color for bridesmaid dresses, especially lighter blues which are quite fun, jolly, and fresh.

Picture courtesy of EricaMay.com

As you can see, blue also brings out the best in other colors, such as the red of the bouquets here and a nice bright blue is a great color for spring and summer weddings!

For a formal event you can go darker, as these blues have a sense of gravity and elegance that sets them apart from their lighter cousins. Like this dark blue taffeta A-line dress for instance:

The darker blue taffeta gives this dress a sense of formality and maturity that is ideal for formal events.

Do YOU like blue dresses? If not, which color do you prefer? Tell us and we can feature your favourite color next time!

Click here for the OuterInner Bridesmaid Dresses Collection and Quality Evening Gowns.