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If This Is a Women’s Blog, Why Is It Blue?

Welcome to the redesigned Modern Mrs Darcy!  As you can see, the blog has a new look.  (Thanks to BootstrapperU for all the help with the redesign!)

But you may be wondering….if this is a women’s blog, why is it blue?

Well.  That’s a very good question. I’m glad you asked!

Did you know that prior to the 1940s, it was actually girls who wore the blue, and boys who wore pink?  Blue was considered to be delicate and dainty, the color of fidelity and the Virgin Mary:  blue belonged to the girls.  Pink, as a lighter shade of the strong color red, was considered masculine.   (Rather than pink or blue, gender-neutral clothing was the norm in the 20th century.  Baby clothes were uniformly white, because white could be bleached, and boys and girls wore frilly dresses (dresses!) until age 6 or 7.)

Modern Mrs Darcy isn’t blue because it idealizes 1940s ideas about gender and dress, or because I want the blog to appear dainty.  (Just typing the word “dainty” makes me giggle!)  But I took great pains to revise my new chosen blog theme from its hot-pink presets, because that color didn’t seem appropriate here.

I chose the blue because I like it.

But the more I think about it, the more appropriate the color blue seems for the blog.  Here at Modern Mrs Darcy, I want to explore what it looks like when classical femininity intersects our modern world.  Pink–for girls?  Strictly modern.  But the blue is classy, and classic–yesterday and today.

I like pink.  I wear pink.  My daughters wear pink.  And I’m okay with that.

But for the blog, I chose blue.  And I hope you like it!

For more interesting reading on girls and boys and pink and blue, check out this article at the Smithsonian blog:  When Did Girls Start Wearing Pink?
Photo credit: flickr user smbiosis

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21 comments

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  1. MCH says:

    I quite like it! I tend to gravitate toward a blue pallet as well and hadn’t realized it until someone pointed it out; my blog, my closet, my water bottle, the color scheme in the living room…so it’s nice to know it has some great feminine roots!

  2. Jamie says:

    How funny! I was just reading about the pink/blue color reversal in “Cinderella Ate My Daughter”! I love that you used the word ‘dainty’… such a fun word and so rarely used! :0)

  3. Tori says:

    Very interesting…the girls-pink assumption of today is one of those things I never thought about before, in terms of when it became so. And I love the blog! Blue is my favorite color!

  4. Lucky says:

    I like it! I didn’t find out the sex of either of my kids so they both wore yellow, green and white for the first few months. They seem to have survived.

  5. Jaimie Ramsey says:

    That’s fascinating! I knew about babies’ wearing white dresses until they were past toddler years, but I never thought about the color aspect. It makes perfect sense, though! 🙂

    And the new blog design is fantastic. Well done. 🙂 (Now I’m debating whether or not to change my very pink blog to a different color…hm…yellows and oranges for fall? 🙂 )

  6. I love the new design! And I’m really looking forward to reading that article. I remember looking at pictures of Teddy Roosevelt as a child, all dolled up in dresses! I personally love gowns (especially Christening gowns) on babies, boy or girl (although not frilly or lacy for a boy).

  7. Great timing! I just read about the pink/blue color swap over the weekend (in Cordelia Fine’s book Delusions of Gender) while putting together materials for the Sociology class I teach. The Smithsonian link is excellent. I am definitely going to use that in class. Thank you!

  8. Amy says:

    I like your redesign! I remember learning about the blue for girls history back in college; a bunch of us in my history class had fun teasing each other with it.

  9. Love the blue!

    When I was a teenager I was obsessed with Victoria magazine. They often ran articles on the beauty of blue and white in both home decor and fashion. My bedroom in those days was soft blue with white lace curtains and a white coverlet. It was soft and light – very feminine and I loved it!
    Nancy Lindemeyer was the editor back in those days (when the magazine was at it’s best, I believe). A blogging friend recently introduced me to her blog:

    http://nancylindemeyer.blogspot.com/

  10. Brenda says:

    The new design is lovely, Anne. It looks fresh, feminine, & dignified. Your explanation of the blue/pink reversal is interesting. I like to learn about things like that. It brought something else to mind: I remember reading, once, that here in the Northern Hemisphere white with a blue cast to it looks whiter to us. Perhaps this is why blueing is added to white laundry. But in the southern Hemisphere (the writer was talking specifically about South American countries) people find that whites look whiter if they have the barest reddish tint. Maybe it has something to do with the quality & intensity of the light….?

    I’m enjoying visiting your blog very much. 🙂

    Brenda

    • Anne says:

      That’s very interesting about the colors, Brenda. I remember reading about how the colors for the homes in Seaside, FL were chosen: they were supposed to be reminiscent of Caribbean homes, but slightly altered to suit the light of the Florida panhandle. (However they chose the colors, they’re charming!)

  11. Actually I did know all of that, it is one of my random trivia facts that I love to share.

    I really like the new design. Personally I’m a huge fan of blue, especially this shade (my blog has a blue design as well). I find it very calm, and relaxing.

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