Powder blue became fashionable in the Rococo period (18th century) — the light, airy quality of the colour matched the aesthetic of the era. The Wedgwood pottery company made it iconic through their jasperware — the pale blue and white relief pottery that became one of the most recognised decorative objects in history.

Airy, refined, and delicate. Powder blue is blue stripped of weight and seriousness — it floats. Associated with the 18th century aesthetic of lightness and grace, with Wedgwood refinement, and with the particular quality of winter sky. Less intense than baby blue, more sophisticated — an adult's delicate blue.

Josiah Wedgwood's development of jasperware in the 1770s, with its characteristic powder blue and white relief decoration, created one of the most enduring colour associations in decorative arts. "Wedgwood blue" is a specific cultural colour that has been continuously produced for 250 years. Gainsborough's "The Blue Boy" (c.1770) used a similar pale blue as a statement of artistic homage to Van Dyck.