The Thing About The Colour Blue...and why I'm anti Blue Monday

If you were to ask me what my favourite colour is, it would obviously be a very difficult question. As a Rainbow Hunter I find joy in (almost) every shade going (just not the greys!). I’m mood led and I go through phases. I’ll have a green period or I’ll want to wear orange every day for a month. But the one colour I never used to have too much desire to surround myself in was blue.

Blue Connotations

Truth is I associated it as such a normal, common colour that in my mind I’d assigned it as dull. I used to think it was the colour that someone who dislikes colour opts for because it’s safe. You can still blend in if you wear navy, and baby blue is perfectly acceptable because it’s inoffensive. On the other end of the spectrum, teals, aquas and turquoises are favoured because they are desirable, like the Mediterranean Sea. Few people wear aqua head to toe (unless you’re me!) but pops of aqua (which too be fair, some folk also put in with the green family) often appear in accessories and jewellery, socks, ties and scarves, so it gets its appreciation.

But then I gave it some more thought and I realised that I was being foolish and colourist. The truth is, that of all the colours in existence it’s Blue that has the most variations – how many can you name? Sky blue, royal blue, electric blue, midnight blue, azure, cornflour, sapphire, cyan…the more you begin to explore blue the more you realise there are infinite ways to appreciate it.

Blue is in fact a miracle colour, a primary colour, one that infiltrates into every day of our life from a glimpse of a blue sky to the blue of a chocolate bar wrapper, or even a pregnancy test – it’s inescapable.

Associations with the colour blue

So why then is Blue perceived as so melancholic? Recognise any of these terms?

Feeling blue
January blues
Blue murder
Blue in the face
and of course, Blue Monday, calculated as the most depressing day of the year which falls next week on 21st January. But why?

It’s not fair that a colour; one that’s so generous in its ability to appeal, one that’s apparent in nature and has so many variations, has got a negative reputation. It’s time to reclaim blue for all its positivities. I fully appreciate that January is the least appealing month of the year, this year so far it’s mostly been grey skies in London and most of us in the UK are only getting a few actual minutes of sun exposure a day, leaving us feeling miserable but do we have to describe it as blue? On Blue Monday I intend to embrace the colour to the fullest and will be wearing it with pride!

And if reading this it has got you thinking about Blue and how much you adore it or want more of it in your life, here’s some lovely Blue things I spotted this week that I’m adding to my Blue WishList.