If you're anything like me, you've probably seen most Disney films precisely 27,258 times. There's honestly never a bad time to watch a Disney classic, whether it's over the holiday period, when you're ill, or when you've had a hard day of work and want to get a warm and fuzzy feeling that bolsters your faith in humanity.
Or, you know, those days when you just really fancy witnessing a snowman singing about how he's going to get gorgeously tanned in summer.
However, throughout all of these viewings, it turns out there's one thing we all may have missed, more specifically, one thing that all Disney Princesses have in common: all of them wear the color blue. Think about it,
Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Jasmine, Elsa, Belle - they're all very different princesses, but each and every one of them is kitted out in blue.
It turns out this is no coincidence, with the executive director of the Pantone Color Institute - an establishment that helps companies make the most informed decisions about color for their brands or products - stating that the color blue gives power to our favorite
female characters.
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Speaking to Allure, Leatrice Eiseman of the Pantone Color Institute explained to Allure that it’s all about sending out a positive message to young girls, saying: "You’re adding a bit of power to the character by giving her the blue. It’s a very subtle way of saying, ‘Yeah, but young women, young girls, can be empowered, too.
It’s something to look forward to, to see that blue sky. It's dependable. It's reliable. It might cloud up, but we know it's there."
She's not the first person to comment on the positive connotations of the clothing in Disney classics; Jacqueline Durran, who designed costumes for the Beauty and the Beast live-action film spoke out earlier in the year about her fashion choices, saying that the colour blue was being used to differentiate heroine Belle, played by
.
Durran, who received a Best Costume Design Academy Award nomination for her work in Pride and Prejudice, said:"There is a sort of refinement and crispness to light blue, but there's also blue in workwear. It is a practical color, and a color that you can work in. Though we didn't completely take blue out of the village, Belle is distinct within the town as the only one who wears a column of blue. She stands out as different than her environment."
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So there you have it. Apparently blue equals a strong, confident woman who isn't going to take any nonsense from anyone. An inspiring message to all little girls out there - and any woman who's been told that she can't do something.
But, hold on. According to designer Christopher Kane, there's also another reason why they're all floating about in different shades of blue. Why,
you ask? It's just a Disney thing.
He told Elle magazine: "When you think of every Disney heroine—Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Jasmine—they're all wearing blue! It's a thing, Disney Blue."
While he's certainly not wrong about that, we're going to favor the idea of empowerment over any other reason. Hey, at the end of the day, girls certainly don't have to be pretty in pink.
