powder blue

For the film, see Powder Blue (film)

Powder blue may refer to two different colors. Originally, it referred to a dark blue color, but it has since come to refer to a pale blue color, possibly because the name reminded people of baby powder and so people thought of it as a color similar to baby blue. The original color is now called dark powder blue.

The paler variant is often associated with Powder Snow.

Powder blue (web color powder blue)

Powder blue
— Color coordinates —
Hex triplet		#B0E0E6
RGBB	(r, g, b)	(176, 224, 230)
HSV	(h, s, v)	(220°, 70%, 90%)
Source		X11[1]
B: Normalized to [0–255] (byte)

The web color powder blue is shown on the right.

The first recorded use of powder blue (the pale blue color) as a color name in English was in 1894. ^[2]

Dark powder blue (Smalt)

Dark powder blue
— Color coordinates —
Hex triplet		#003399
RGBB	(r, g, b)	(0, 51, 153)
HSV	(h, s, v)	(220°, 70%, 60%)
Source		[Unsourced]
B: Normalized to [0–255] (byte)

The color dark powder blue, also called smalt, is displayed to the right. The original powder blue color referred to smalt, a crushed-glass product used in laundering and dying applications and of a deep, dark blue hue.

The first recorded use of powder blue (the dark blue color) as a color name in English was in 1707. ^[3]

Powder blue in human culture

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Child development

• Powder blue is often associated with infants.

Military

• Dark powder blue was the color of the U.S. Air Force service dress uniform before the uniform was changed to a new cut in darker Prussian blue. The old cut and color are still used for uniforms at the Air Force Academy.

Music

• The album Asleep in the Back by the band Elbow contains a song entitled Powder Blue.
• The Canadian "Folk rock" group Barenaked Ladies has a song titled "Powder Blue" on their "Pinch Me" single'.
• The United States rock group Ween has released a song titled "Powder Blue" on their album 12 Golden Country Greats.
• Vain, a rock group from the United States, released their 1995 album Fade containing a song called Powder Blue.

Sports

• NBA: The Denver Nuggets began wearing powder blue road jerseys in 2003, while the Utah Jazz introduced an alternate powder blue road jersey in 2006. The Sacramento Kings also wore powder blue uniforms during the late 1980s.
• MLB: The Kansas City Royals and Toronto Blue Jays wear versions of their powder blue uniforms.
• NFL: The Tennessee Titans have worn powder blue uniforms throughout their franchise history, as the Houston Oilers from 1960-96 and briefly the Tennessee Oilers from 1997-98. The San Diego Chargers reintroduced powder blue to their color scheme in 2007, when they redesigned their logos and uniforms.
• NCAA: The UCLA Bruins and the North Carolina Tarheels have worn powder blue sports uniforms since the 1950s.
• NHL: The Pittsburgh Penguins wore powder blue uniforms until 1977. They revived the 1968-style uniforms for the AMP Energy NHL Winter Classic and currently wear powder blue as a throwback uniform.

References

1. ^ W3C TR CSS3 Color Module, HTML4 color keywords
2. ^ Maerz and Paul A Dictionary of Color New York:1930 McGraw-Hill Page 202. See color sample of Powder Blue Page 95--Plate 36 Color Sample H2
3. ^ Maerz and Paul A Dictionary of Color New York:1930 McGraw-Hill Page 202. See color sample of Powder Blue (Smalt) Page 109--Plate 43 Color Sample D11

See also

• List of colors

External links

• Smalt