Several lines, including 12th Street by Cynthia Vincent, Tibi, and Tart, feature the shade prominently in their collections. Still, it's a color that has been rarely used in fashion, said Jimmy Contreras, co-owner of Kimberly Boutique in Center City.

"This blue represents wealth and sophistication," he said. "Fashion is leaving that boho-chic, messy look and leaning toward sophisticated diva."

I'm trying to get my hands on a pair of cobalt, round-toe, kitten-heel pumps with a matching oversize bag. But those aren't my only options, as the shade extends beyond accessories. Look for the vibrant hue in solid, round-collared dresses with full sleeves, and watch it pop in black-and-white printed smock dresses.

Or try a pleated cap-sleeve blouse. Pair it with gray flat-front trousers with a skinny belt. Feeling a little loud? Cobalt looks great as part of the backdrop for an orange floral pattern, but err on the side of small petals, or your look will be blinding.

While cobalt is the most exciting version of the shade, blue is an important color in Matthew Izzo's men's and women's lines for spring, a continuation of the moody shades that dominated clothing last fall.

Until recently, blue hues were considered old-fashioned, Izzo said; the polar opposite of the rosy shades that represented all things girly, whimsical and fun. The color was put on the back shelf. Navy shoes and handbags were hard to find.

But now that clothing is more tailored and serious again, it makes sense that the cool shades are hot.

"Women want to feel like professional adults again," Izzo said. "They want to be taken seriously. They want to be thoughtful. When the economy comes back, maybe we'll be in pink again."

Blues made their first return last spring, when nautical navy was on the verge of coming back, said Leatrice Eiseman, director of the Pantone Color Institute. While the look never really made it, several designers - Michael Kors, Ralph Lauren and Carolina Herrera - continued to play with the shade.

By Christmas, stores featured entire suits in cobalt blue. The Daisy Fuentes line at Kohl's offered a chic shift and shrunken jacket in the solid color, while J.C. Penney is featuring turquoise and teals this spring, both as underpinnings and in color-block patterns.

"It's a key shade in geometric prints," said Karolyn Wangstad, vice president and director of trend at Penneys.

"Historically, when there are serious things happening in the world - whether it's an election year or an economy issue - we gravitate to the cool, clean and simple," she said.

The Pantone Color Institute picked blue iris (a smidgen more purple than cobalt) as the color of the year. Blue shades, Eiseman said, are strong in fashion, interior decorating and in cars this year because they represent change.

"The whole family of blues - the periwinkles, the cornflowers - are calming and meditative," Eiseman said. "Right now the country is mysterious and hopeful. Things are changing, but we don't know how it's going to shake out."

Blue reminds me of a time when women dressed up for work, as well as luncheons. Blue spectators went along with white gloves and hats to church. Little girls didn't wear blue. It was a color that represented maturity.

Cobalt is more exciting because it has the familiar qualities of blue, without being rigid. It's an electric extension of what we already know. After the anything-goes-in-fashion period we have emerged from, blue grounds us - without being preachy.

Michele Bernhardt, author of Colorstrology, a book that looks at how colors represent our personalities (Quirk Books, 2005), put it best.

"Cobalt blue is interesting because it's a sign that we want something we are familiar with," she said. "But at the same time we don't want people telling us what to do or what to wear.

"It makes a statement that we want the truth, but we want it on our own terms."