In the Navy: Banish your Blue Monday Style Blues
Out of the blue in the early hours of Monday 20th January, I had the idea to write about styling all things blue.
The third Monday of the year has since 2004 been dubbed Blue Monday, allegedly the most depressing day of the year. The concept originated as a marketing ploy by Sky Travel to encourage more holiday bookings – exploiting post-new-year depression at (in the UK) a dark and cold time of year.

Colour psychology
Research has it that blue is the world’s favourite colour and one which is popular in different countries and across different demographies. Whereas experiments have shown that red can raise blood pressure, blue can have the opposite effect. Blue also has associations with trustworthiness and professionalism. Blue may also be thought of as an ‘easy’ colour to wear. After all it’s a colour both for the pinstripes of the boardroom and the denim of our downtime.
Blue is one of the more recently named colours: in Ancient Greece, there wasn’t a word for blue, with Homer referring to the sea as something translatable as ‘wine dark’! This lack of a word for what we perceive as blue could be owing to the lack of blue in the natural world: as I look out of the window in East Yorkshire, I’m reminded that both sea and sky are rarely blue! Today, we have plenty of terms for blues: teal, aqua, royal blue, cobalt and navy to name just a few. But which are our best blues?

Spring
This palette is characterised by warm, light, bright, clear shades. As someone with a ‘Spring’ skin tone, bright navy and cobalt are my go-to blues. For other Springs, particularly as we go grey, bright clear aqua can be a flattering shade.
Style suggestion: pair aqua with warm red or coral.
Summer

The Summer hues are cooler and more delicate. Think pastel ‘baby blue’, or ‘Airforce blue’.
Style suggestion: warm up cool, pastel blues with soft, pale yellow or go for a monochrome look with two or three similar shades of cool, muted blue.
Autumn
As a colour consultant, the rich, muted, greenish blues are those that help me most clearly spot clients with an Autumn skin tone. Autumns will look stunning in rich tones of teal which make their eye colour pop and their skin look sun-kissed. As a warm palette, these blues have more yellow in them and include marine navy and peacock blue.

Style suggestion: wear with shades of chocolate brown, cream or tan or go for a contrast by pairing with a rich, muted violet.
Winter
Tones in the Winter palette are characterised by depth and clarity and with jewel-colours. Winters will look their best in the darkest and coolest navy along with striking shades of royal blue and ice blue.
Style suggestion: Winters can carry off the drama of contrast, so wear your deepest near-black navy with crisp true white or for a beautiful, striking look wear cobalt with another jewel-colour like emerald.

Blue and sustainability

But before we banish our Blue Monday blues by treating ourselves to another new outfit, let’s consider the environmental cost. Unfortunately, textile dyeing has a toxic impact on the environment. One UN report names textile dyeing as the second largest water polluter globally. And we’re affected too, with some dyes impacting human health. So where do we stand as consumers? I recommend looking out for global labels like bluesign, OEKO-TEX and GOTS, and download the Good on You App which rates brands for their impact on people, animals and planet.
Blue and diversity
And finally, did you know that the whole ‘blue for a boy’ concept, much like the idea of Blue Monday started as a marketing ploy? So, let’s see the pink-blue divide for the social construct it is and choose colours based on what we love and how they make us feel.

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