Third Eye Blue-We Can Depend on Pantone 15-4020-TC

(A Millennial Laud)

Constant Cerulean

Coded, pixeled

Unpatterned, cool

Roving heaven, this Vertical Loom

Pin our gaze,

Still our glands,  

O Blue Shalom

 (Image source: vintageprintable.swivelchairmedia.com, Public Domain)

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 

Color the Millennium Cerulean Blue

Pantone Pronounces this Sky Blue as the Hue of the Future

Carlstadt, NJ, April 26, 1999 -- The official color of the millennium is Cerulean Blue PANTONE 15-4020 TC, the color of the sky on a serene, crystal clear day, says Pantone, Inc., the world's leading authority on color and color trends.

Lifestyle movements suggest that consumers will be seeking inner peace and spiritual fulfillment in the new millennium. This is a paradoxical time in which we are heading toward an uncertain, yet exciting, future, and also looking back, trying to hold onto the security of the past. In this stressful, high-tech era, we will be searching for solace and Cerulean Blue produces the perfect calming effect.

"Psychologically, gazing at a blue sky brings a sense of peace and tranquility to the human spirit," says Leatrice Eiseman, executive director of the Pantone Color Institute®. "Sky blue is imprinted in our psyches as a retiring, quiescent color. Surrounding yourself with Cerulean blue could bring on a certain peace because it reminds you of time spent outdoors, on a beach, near the water - associations with restful, peaceful, relaxing times. In addition, it makes the unknown a little less frightening because the sky, which is a presence in our lives every day, is a constant and is always there. That's the dependability factor of blue."

"Our studies show that blue is the leading favorite color for designers and consumers worldwide, regardless of culture, gender or geographic origin," says Lisa Herbert, vice president, corporate communications worldwide, Pantone, Inc. "Not only is it a favorite in the U.S., but it is the first color choice in Europe and Asia as well. We've chosen Cerulean Blue as the official color for the millennium because of its mass appeal. It is a universal, unisex color, applicable to just about every consumer product including women's, men's and children's fashions, interior design and home furnishings, cosmetics and even automobiles."

Physiologically, the viewing of blue reduces blood pressure, heartbeat and respiration rate and creates a calming effect. Socio-ecologically, as we enter the next century, water issues are emerging at the forefront of the public's consciousness. Exhausting our natural resources and polluting our environment, particularly our water supply, continues to be a concern, another reason for the popularity of blue for the future.

Getting 'Waisted' to Lose Weight

LADIES...start stalking those neighborhood estate sales for a fainting couch, the Victorian era is making a comeback. Forget the Spanx and shape-wear, the corset is on demand! Got bloaty pounds and ugly inches staring at you in the mirror just longing to be squeezed out of sight? Well you’re in luck--a recent CBS News segment reports that many women are squeezing the pounds off with the Corset Diet. “It (the corset) holds you really snugly, so you don’t get hungry as often,” one corset-er squeaked.

Touted as safe and effective by TheCorsetDiet.com, a United Kingdom company, the corset seems to mesh well with our 21st century culture of instant gratification.  Corset-ers swear by its power to erase the body you were born with instantly. So skip the nip (and the tuck). For $150 you can lace and tighten to a better you with a “non-surgical gastric bypass sleeve.”

Snacker or binge eater? Don’t sweat it (and you won’t have to because there’s no exercising with this girth crusher). The corset has you covered. Dr. Alexander Sinclair, a Beverly Hills plastic surgeon, explains: “The patients have a feeling of being full, of being satiated, so they’re not constantly eating. What the corset does, is with progressive pressure, it will mold those ribs, and makes the waist more narrow.”

Calling all baby mamas! The Corset Diet will shed the baby weight and eradicate all evidence that your body was ever a sacred, life giving vessel. In fact, celebrity actress Jessica Alba revealed that she “wore a corset day and night for three months” to regain her body after each of her pregnancies.  

Get a Grip

All tongue and cheek (and muffin tops) aside, the health detriments of “corset training” are documented. Keri Peterson, M.D., a physician at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City and a medical advisor for Women's Health Magazine  calls them outrageous. “Corsets can only make you appear slightly thinner while you're wearing one–they can't physically change your size. And if anyone wearing a corset loses weight, it's not actually because of the corset—it's more likely because the contraption makes it so uncomfortable to eat that you automatically consume fewer calories,” says Peterson. What's more, wearing a corset could actually cause acid reflux (because of the pressure they put on your stomach) and trouble breathing deeply (because of the pressure they put on your diaphragm and lungs). It makes no sense whatsoever.”

And yet, women are hooked by the idea of losing weight just by putting on a piece of clothing. It certainly fits with our 2014 lifestyle. Often women find themselves too busy being taxi driver, cook, housekeeper, counselor, medic, and about a thousand other things (not including the job that comes with a paycheck) to take the time and effort to think about what it means to be healthy.  The exponential speed of cyber-time leaves little real time to stop and reflect on the standards of beauty we are measuring ourselves against. The promise of instant results comes with a price we're willing pay. Considering just last year an Iowa woman swallowed a tapeworm to lose weight, “beauty is pain” might still be the 21st century woman’s siren song.

Image credit:  Fig. 100. — Fine taille. . . d'après Gil Baër. Doctcur O'Followell (page 124.) [c. 1905 Public domain], Wikimedia Commons