Ultramarine blue trend: from fashion to design

The MAG 08/22

TRENDS by Cristina Morozzi

Ultramarine blue trend: from fashion to design

 

Ultramarine blue trend is back in vogue: the designer Paola Navone presented her total blue installation at Milano Design Week 2022. Read the full article.

The color blue is everywhere in the Western world as Michel Pastoureau – historian, anthropologist, and leading expert on colors – writes in his book Le petit livre des couleurs (The Little Book of Colors). “All of Western civilization prioritizes blue, which is not the case in other cultures…but it was not always like this”, he affirms.

For a long time, blue was unpopular, with the exception of Ancient Egypt, where it was thought to bring good luck. The color blue is difficult to create, which is perhaps why it did not play a role in social life.

In Rome, blue was considered the color of Barbarians, and a woman who had blue eyes was considered to be immoral.

Then, in the 13th century, blue was promoted as a divine color, starting with the color of the Madonna’s mantle in paintings of the time. “Today”, Pastoreau concludes, “when people say they like blue it means they side with good people”.

The color ultramarine is back in vogue with summer and vacation on the horizon. And it instantly became trendy thanks to the fashion show by Schiapparelli, which has made the color its emblem, and Paola Navone’s collaboration with Turri in designing the Azul collection, where blue is the protagonist on the walls, in cushion covers, upholstery, and carpets.
Schiapparelli's fashion show fall 2022

Ultramarine is also the color theme of the collection of decorative vases lined up on the central table. It is indicative that Paola Navone is returning to total blue, a full 12 years after the striking blue installation created for Barovier & Toso in Via Tortona for the 2010 Milan Furniture Fair.