# Midnight Blue vs. True Navy



## cosmic_cookie (Jan 30, 2014)

What is the difference between true navy and midnight blue?


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## SG_67 (Mar 22, 2014)

In my eyes, I sometimes have a hard time telling midnight blue from black when indoors.


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## Matt S (Jun 15, 2006)

Midnight blue is so dark that it looks black in dim lighting. I've see different dark blue shades called navy, and sometimes the colour is essentially the same as midnight blue. Others place navy closer to marine blue.


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## RogerP (Oct 31, 2012)

Matt S said:


> Midnight blue is so dark that it looks black in dim lighting. I've see different dark blue shades called navy, and sometimes the colour is essentially the same as midnight blue. Others place navy closer to marine blue.


I wonder if there is anything approaching a contemporary consensus on what shade of blue actually is defined by "navy". My own view tends toward the darker shades. I have also seen something close to marine blue described as navy, but that strikes me as outside the range.

To the OP, midnight blue for me is damned-near-black.


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## SG_67 (Mar 22, 2014)

Marine blue is lighter, in my opinion, than navy. 

In common parlance, it seems to me that anymore blue and navy are interchangeable. It's unfortunate as it does create confusion.


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## Searching_Best_Fit (Feb 11, 2015)

Without going to quantitative measure, I would say the midnight blue has more *light sucking* ability than navy so that people thinks it is black. Going from light to dark: light blue, blue, navy, and then midnight blue. 

I learned that there is various colors of *blacks* as there are many colors of *navys*. The manufacturer or the SA can point to a royal blue suit and call it navy, or a midnight blue suit as navy, or a true navy suit as dark blue. There is no guarantee method to verify the color *navy* based on manufacturer's description. 

Based on the jokes about the pants with this color, I am going to distinguish the colors of navy and midnight blue by their *color sucking* ability. If a garment can sucks surrounding lights, I call it midnight blue. It it cannot diminish the surrounding lights, and darker than blue, I call it navy. IMHO that might be a good way to tell the difference.


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## cosmic_cookie (Jan 30, 2014)

From what I've seen, true navy is the closest to black as you can get without something being black. Anytime I see an garment with a color referred to as midnight blue, it's still near to black, but not as deep/dark as true navy. If I were to guess, midnight blue is a bit more of a faded/gray than true navy.


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## 127.72 MHz (Feb 16, 2007)

Navy blue is an almost black blue. If you started with blue and added black you'd approach navy.

Indigo is more purple -- a violet blue. If you started with purple and added blue you'd start getting close to indigo.

Midnight blue falls somewhere in between. There are a lot of different shades that can be called midnight.

Crayola claims "Prussian" blue is midnight: (scroll down to color #60)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Crayola_crayon_colors

While others may not specifically disagree, Wikipedia shows a color that, at it's darkest, does not seem to be what I would call "Midnight"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prussian_blue

One of my Oxxford 140's suits is called "Ink" blue, which I would consider a true "Midnight" as it's clearly darker than another Oxxford "Navy" blazer.

 
​


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## paul winston (Jun 3, 2006)

Words for colors are not precise . When you hear the color "navy" you picture what navy is to your mind's eye. Five individuals sitting at a table may each picture a different color when they hear a color name. 
To my mind's eye midnight is only distinguishable from black by putting the two clothes/garments next to each other. My customers do not wear black suits-with the exception of dinner suits. They wear navy or charcoal grey. We have made many navy suits. We have made Midnight dinner suits. I do not remember making a midnight suit- not that I am saying there is anything wrong with wanting a black or a midnight suit.
Paul Winston
Winston Tailors/chippneckwear.com


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## cosmic_cookie (Jan 30, 2014)

127.72 MHz said:


> Navy blue is an almost black blue. If you started with blue and added black you'd approach navy.
> 
> Indigo is more purple -- a violet blue. If you started with purple and added blue you'd start getting close to indigo.
> 
> ...


I would say that the Prussian/Midnight Blue that is show on the wiki is what is commonly referred to as "navy blue". I know that navy blue should actually near black, but because of the common misconception, I refer to the near black navy blue as true navy.


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## 127.72 MHz (Feb 16, 2007)

It's wonderful to know you're looking in on us here at AAAC. I do not wear black suits either but as I mentioned I do have a "Ink" blue Oxxford suit. I love the suit but if I have one regret it's that I wish it was a slightly lighter color, like what I would call Navy.

I am one who aspires to own a suit or jacket made by you. By the way I have found Chipp Neckwear but I am unable to find Winston Tailors. . Do you still commission suits and jackets?

Best regards,

P.S. It was great talking to you Paul and I'll look forward to doing business with you.

P.P.S. Fells, you owe it to yourself to take a look at some Chipp Ties offerings using he same cloth as Drakes and other higher end tie makers at very reasonable prices. (I love the Madders!)



paul winston said:


> Words for colors are not precise . When you hear the color "navy" you picture what navy is to your mind's eye. Five individuals sitting at a table may each picture a different color when they hear a color name.
> To my mind's eye midnight is only distinguishable from black by putting the two clothes/garments next to each other. My customers do not wear black suits-with the exception of dinner suits. They wear navy or charcoal grey. We have made many navy suits. We have made Midnight dinner suits. I do not remember making a midnight suit- not that I am saying there is anything wrong with wanting a black or a midnight suit.
> Paul Winston
> Winston Tailors/chippneckwear.com


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## ilikeyourstyle (Apr 24, 2007)

These blues were created using the RGB coordinates listed in Wikipedia:










Midnight blue is navy with some added red and green to mute it a bit. It is a slightly more greyish blue than navy is.


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## SG_67 (Mar 22, 2014)

^ Even more confusion. I've never seen a midnight blue garment that light. 

As mentioned before, in artificial light, midnight blue is almost black.


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## Searching_Best_Fit (Feb 11, 2015)

ilikeyourstyle said:


> These blues were created using the RGB coordinates listed in Wikipedia:
> 
> 
> 
> ...





SG_67 said:


> ^ Even more confusion. I've never seen a midnight blue garment that light.
> 
> As mentioned before, in artificial light, midnight blue is almost black.


I concurred. Based on what I see in Wiki and some other source, the term *midnight blue* is used quite differently from the term used for suiting. The color maps in X11 operating system (unix) was quite different from what I understand about the color.

If we follow what Paul Winston and SG_67 have said: the midnight blue used for suiting should look like black, or blacker than black, under artificial light. In that case, the color midnight blue in suiting should be darker than navy under the artificial light. One can postulate that under artificially light, black has a greenish hue, midnight blue looks black, and navy looks blue-ish black, but still a blue color. Therefore, under the artificial light, midnight blue is darker than navy, and thus has more *light-sucking* (causing object to look like black) capability.

Case in point: most of the Dinner Jackets used in the Bond's film are donned with midnight blue. In many scenes it looks like black. It is only under certain lighting that it reveals its true midnight blue nature. One would never call that color *navy*, would it? On the other hand, Bond also wears a true *navy* suits throughout the series. We can easily identify it as navy color because it does not look like black under artificial lighting. I would argue that is the key differentiation factor to distinguish the midnight blue and navy blue.


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## 127.72 MHz (Feb 16, 2007)

I really don't feel like we're splitting hairs here. This is more complex than one might think. 

The good news for me is that weather I'm selecting cloth for a suit or jacket or buying off the rack I do know what I like.

None the less this is interesting.


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## SG_67 (Mar 22, 2014)

^ I also think it's a lesson in selecting cloth based on the way it looks on ones monitor. 

It really should be viewed in person and in different types of light.


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