Color Psychology in Fashion: How Cobalt Blue Boosts Productivity?

The color of the clothes is more important to buyers now than ever before. The hues are excelling as a marketing landscape. Both buyers and sellers need to stick with color premises if they want to stand out in the fashion market.

One of the prominent leaders of colorful garments is Cobalt Blue. Since the 1830s, this beautiful color gained popularity in dressing, especially for women’s garments. 

The reason is the color strongly radiates power to radiate results. When a person wears a cobalt blue garment, they will feel more productive. But how exactly do they feel like that?

We have carefully researched the psychological factor of cobalt blue in fashion. By the end of the article, you will know

• History of Cobalt blue color in fashion
• Psychological factors contributing to productivity wearing a cobalt blue
• Cobalt blue color beyond fashion
• Idea to style cobalt blue cashmere scarf

Let’s begin with basic premises on color psychology and cobalt blue.

Cobalt Blue Color Psychology

Cobalt blue color psychology means how people perceive when their senses come in contact with cobalt blue. The cobalt shades (#0047AB) can be expressed as rich deep blue similar to peacock feathers. The color is placed on the blue section of the color wheel near violet.

In real life, this shade of primary color blue is mostly found in corporate settings. You can relate examples as,

• Design studios and meeting halls of offices painted in cobalt blue,
• Uniforms of airlines and financial institutes,
• Logos of luxury brands,
• Spa and meditation room color, and
• People praise the beauty of peacock’s feather

A finer example is the relaxation and productivity people feel near tropical water. More references to this darker blue shade can be found in the rich history of this color.

History of Cobalt Blue Color

The earliest reference to cobalt blue can be traced to Chinese pottery. But the pigments were quite impure. In the 6th century, a vibrant color of ultramarine pigment was found in Buddhist painting and was named Lapis Lazuli.

It was a Swedish chemist George Brandt who isolated and named the pigment ‘cobalt’ in the 18th century. After almost 100 years, in the early 19th century, a French chemist Louis Jacques Thenard extracted pure cobalt aluminate (modern cobalt blue color). Its usage immediately began in paintings to provide hues for swirling blue.

You can still see paintings by Claude Monet, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, and Vincent Van Gogh using this color blue shade to highlight their art supremacy.

In the same century, the hue showed its supremacy in women’s fashion. Till now it is a beloved color for textiles, designs, paintings, and even plastics.

Cobalt Blue in Fashion: Boosting Productivity

Every color reflects multiple symbolization and psychological aspects. We target to merge all those aspects and provide which specific trait a color boosts the most. 

[Want to know more about fashion color psychology? Check our well-researched piece on how dark green color boosts creativity.]

Talking about bold blue pigment cobalt, wearing one makes you more productive. You will be more motivated towards your tasks in an efficient manner.

Let’s look at some psychological factors that contribute to your productivity boost by wearing cobalt blue:

Deepen self-awareness with uninterrupted thinking.

Wearing cobalt blue makes you feel solitude. In a solitary state, you will have deep focus, concentration, and introspective thinking. The more solitude you are uninterrupted on what you are doing. But don’t get too self-reliant as you might get lonelier.

Many people might associate cobalt color with ‘feeling blue – depressed or sad’ but it’s not true. In fact, shades of blue can be used in treating anxiety among learners [1]. 

How does it work: Solitude helps you to minimize distraction. When you are working on complex problems, it aids in solving them in your own way. As there will be no one to disturb you, you can escalate your self-productivity.

Spark creative flow of cobalt bluish imagination.

Cobalt blue dresses promote your thinking capability. You will start thinking divergently, a key thinking practice for the beacon of creativity. A lot of out-of-the-box thinking will revolve around you. More brainstorming will generate more ideas for your project.

How does it work: All these ideas generated are sparking innovations. The innovations are a path leading to unique solutions. New solutions or fresher ways to deal with problems increase your productivity.

Overcome procrastination through cobalt motivation.

Drive and motivation are two things that color cobalt will reflect on you. You will be more curious about your goal. As you will have some solitude thinking, the goal will be more focused. High energy levels push you further for quicker results.

How does it work: Both motivation and drive promote mental alertness. When you are mentally alert, you will be free of fatigue. The cobalt blue color excites people mentally and makes them happy [2]. Alert excited mind without fatigue is the primary recipe for productivity. 

Encourage teamwork with pure blue shade.

When you wear Cobalt blue uniforms, people will see you as a team player. You will have self-expression and a hunger for a fresh perspective. Your gut feelings move on the positive side and even your emotional intelligence starts to support you.

How does it work: A team player in a cobalt blue dress will create a positive work environment. Such an organizational climate inspires problem-solving from different angles. The whole team will look to uncover deeper solutions and productivity will increase.

Facilitate moments of mindfulness referring to tropical blue.

Cobalt blue clothes clear mental hurdles and welcome analytical thinking. As it channels mindfulness, concentration will be at pivotal levels. You will be able to understand problems easily and look for solutions. 

How does it work: As you are now an analytical thinker, you will have improved problem-solving accuracy. The sustained attention will facilitate your decision-making capacity. When your decision is on point, your productivity will rise. This is supported by research that states cobalt blue color increases subjective alertness on attention-based tasks [3]. 

Perception of Cobalt Blue beyond fashion

Cobalt blue has a deeper meaning outside of the fashion world. Western culture admires this amazing color as a shade of trust, loyalty, and peace. In China, Cobalt is the color of immortality and good luck. Japan symbolizes the color cobalt as truth and justice.

You can see many using cobalt blue to showcase a sense of rarity. Darker blue military uniforms and sports kits highlight masculinity and strength. Blue lights in riverside resorts are associated depth of water and night sky.

If you are an art lover you can refer to Starry Night, Yves Klein’s monochromes, and delftware pottery. Apart from psychological perception, this spiritual color is durable so in most historic arts, the color has not faded.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Conclusion

The shades of productivity are still inside you no matter what color dress you wear. Still, it’s proven that cobalt blue boosts your productivity. So why not try wearing one?

Need help with what to purchase? Check out our luxurious cobalt blue cashmere scarf, 100% pure, and ethically crafted from the Himalayas. 

Don’t think of this as just a scarf. The handwoven organic dyed cashmere scarf might be just what you need to augment the productive aspect. Get your perfect shade of productivity!

References 

Azeemi, S., Iram, H., Younas, Q. and Azeemi, A. (2018) Effect of Blue Colour (453 nm Visible Range Radiation) on Anxiety in College Students. Chinese Medicine.

Khattak, Ali & Khalil, Yasir & Shah, & Ali, Haider & Khan, Yasir & Shah, Mukharif & Khan, Abdul & Khattak, Sajid. (2020). Color Psychology in Marketing. Journal of Business & Tourism.

Elliot AJ (2015). Color and psychological functioning: a review of theoretical and empirical work. Front Psychol.