Powder blue
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 (perhaps resulting from confusion over the word's origin), 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.
Powder blue (Web color powder blue)
| Powder blue | |
|---|---|
 Color coordinates | |
| Hex triplet | #B0E0E6 |
| sRGBB (r, g, b) | (176, 224, 230) |
| HSV (h, s, v) | (187°, 23%, 90%) |
| CIELChuv (L, C, h) | (86, 26, 202°) |
| Source | [Unsourced] |
| 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. [1]
Dark powder blue (Smalt)
| Dark powder blue | |
|---|---|
| Color coordinates | |
| Hex triplet | #003399 |
| sRGBB (r, g, b) | (0, 51, 153) |
| HSV (h, s, v) | (220°, 100%, 60%) |
| CIELChuv (L, C, h) | (26, 74, 261°) |
| 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. [2]
Powder blue in human culture
 |
- The San Diego Chargers once wore powder blue team colors, this team color is now used for special occasions.
- 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.
- The album Asleep in the Back by the band Elbow contains a song entitled Powder Blue.
- 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.