I have always loved ice blue. To me, it is the perfect colour. I even love saying it – ice blue. It has an elegance and a cool crispness, that resonates with me.
When I was a little girl, my dad used to take me every morning to the park, as a start to our day, after dropping my mom off at College. I remember walking the shores of Marie Curtis Park in Mississauga and collecting broken glass, that had been smoothed by the waves and the water. My greatest find was a piece of ice blue glass. It was eye catching and rare and for me, it was a true treasure.
As a young girl, I had heard about how amazing diamonds were and I thought that there could be nothing grander than my ice blue “jewels” found on the beach. When I saw an actual diamond for the first time, I was deeply disappointed by its lack of blue! Plenty of ice – but no blue!
My mother was an amazing seamstress and she loved sewing clothes for her mother in Trinidad. My mom would make my grandma these beautiful 2 piece shirt and skirt outfits and would go to Fabricland, the local sewing and fabric store to find pretty material for my grandma. One year, she found a beautiful ice blue silky material and I remember collecting all of the scraps to use to make clothes for my dolls. Again, the fabric was silky to touch and the colour was stunning. I spent hours designing clothes with those scraps. Even as I got older, I kept those scraps. When my grandmother died, it felt like a connection to her and a tribute to the beautiful sewing my mom used to do.
And so when I was planning on my wedding outfit for my reception, there was no other colour that I wanted – ice blue. My husband and I went to India to do our wedding shopping and I had saved a piece of the fabric to take with me to show the stores the exact colour I wanted for my debut as a wife. I think that my brother and husband grew sick of hearing me reference “ice blue”. But to me, it was the perfect colour, it fit my vision for the wedding and it had a family association.
And so when we landed in India and started doing our wedding shopping, I took out my treasured piece of fabric only to be told that the colour was “too sober”. This was a phrase that I would hear a lot. In India, at the time, wedding colours had to be vibrant and my ice blue was too muted for a proper reception outfit. I went to a few stores, only to hear the same thing repeated, and after a while, I carefully put away my fabric. We eventually decided on a beautiful turquoise blue outfit, that was gorgeous, and I loved……but it was not my ice blue.
And now, older and wiser, my love for ice blue has not diminished, but remains steadfast. Whenever I see it, it instantly fills me with happiness. One Christmas, my mom got me a necklace and earring set with ice blue stones, and my inner child jumped up and down. It is still one of my cherished possessions and whenever I wear the set, it makes me happy.
I hope that one day, when my kids get married, that I can find the perfect shade of ice blue for my outfit, to celebrate their next chapter. That would be a full circle moment for me.
But that’s just one Diva’s view.
Diva's View 