The forgotten 'blue gold', as it's termed, for the wealth it brought to dye-makers, was revived by an American in southwest France. This ancient blue dye that once brought riches to the region and was also praised in Chaucer’s poetry, and used by Napoleon for his army’s uniform is back in trend. Denise Simeon-Lambert said that they brought this ‘pastel’ as the tint was called in the region’s old Occitan-language, back in fashion. Acclaimed designers such as Dior and Chanel are wooing this ‘natural’ and ‘non-staining’ shade as well.
Simeon-Lambert is one of the two business owners that aim to restore international acclaim to this forgotten shade of blue. Today, they have customers from far as Asia as well. Simeon-Lambert stumbled upon this concoction, which is made from a plant and also has curative values, by accident though. The common name for the plant is ‘woad’, which carries the within the dye, which was quite popular during the Renaissance period. Simeon-Lambert revived an ancient tannery to revive the dye.
The dye lost to the more concentrated and easier to produce indigo from India, in the 17th century. This also was replaced in the last 50 years by synthetic tints. However, Simeon-Lambert, after discovering the history of the dye launched a company, which now produces 600 kg of the dye each year.
