Roll up, roll up, my wonderful tailors! Today, we’re going to take a stroll down memory lane, back to a time when a certain colour we hold dear was nowhere to be found. Unfathomable as it may seem, our beloved friend ‘blue’ was quite the latecomer to the party!
Ever wondered how our ancestors perceived the world without the concept of blue? Imagine trying to describe the fabric of a navy suit without using the term ‘blue’. Challenging, right? Well, brace yourself, because we’re about to unravel the mystery of when blue truly made its grand entrance!
Our odyssey (pun intended) begins with none other than the epic Greek poem, ‘The Odyssey’. In it, the legendary Homer paints a picture of a ‘wine-dark sea’. Not even a hint of the navy or teal we’d use to describe a sea. Intriguing, isn’t it? The linguistic quirk didn’t escape the notice of a scholar named William Gladstone in 1858, who would later hold the reins as British Prime Minister.
On scanning the vivid tapestry of Homer’s descriptions, Gladstone found that violets bore an uncanny resemblance to iron and sheep, while honey, of all things, was painted as green. The colour spectrum was heavily skewed towards black, with almost 200 mentions, followed by white. As for blue, it might as well have been on the moon.
Gladstone’s initial hunch was that this strange lack of colour was exclusive to the Greeks, but a scholar named Lazarus Geiger spun the colour wheel further. His findings from the Koran, ancient Chinese stories, an old Hebrew version of the Bible and Icelandic sagas, were all singing the same tune. Not a single word for ‘blue’ to be found.
Enter the Egyptians, the original colour trendsetters, who not only developed a word for blue but also had the means to produce a blue dye! It’s as if they stumbled upon an exclusive swatch of colour, hidden away from the rest of the ancient world.
As tailors, we work with colours in every hue, but did you know that languages formed words for colours in a specific order? It all starts in black and white (how very film noir), then comes red, followed by yellow, and green. Sauntering in last, with all the pomp and circumstance of a fashionably late entrance, is our favourite ‘blue’.
Now, let’s admit it, blue is a bit of a wallflower in nature. You might spot a blue bird here or a forget-me-not there, but by and large, blue is rare. Even the sky, that vast expanse of what we now call ‘blue’, was described as anything but ‘blue’.
It makes you wonder, without a word for a colour, can we truly see it? Is a royal blue suit just a suit, if we can’t call it ‘blue’? As we twirl our measuring tapes and select the perfect swatches, let’s take a moment to appreciate our colourful lexicon. Because once upon a time, the concept of blue was as elusive as a perfectly tailored suit on a rushed order. So, remember, the next time you’re working on a crisp azure summer blazer or a sleek navy two-piece, take a moment to appreciate the colour ‘blue’ and its late, but fashionably grand, entrance into our lives. Isn’t it simply… brilliant?
Keep an eye out on more blogs coming your way soon from the Huddersfield Textiles team!