Soft grey-blue

Where it sits

Light Summer palette

Soft grey-blue is an anchor color in Light Summer. The nearest color on the same side of the warm–cool line is Cool grey #9AA0A6, a True Summer color, at a distance of 10: close enough to mistake for it on a hanger, far enough to tell apart on a person.

At RGB 143, 166, 188 the blue leads, the green is close behind and the red is lower, with all three fairly near each other. That closeness is the grey. It is the color of a winter sky or a worn chambray, never the color of a swimming pool. Push the blue and green apart from the red and it becomes Light Summer's cool sky blue; darken it and it becomes True Summer's dusty blue.

A Light Summer wears it as a color that behaves like a neutral: a shirt, a knit, trousers, a light coat. It goes with every pastel in the palette and it lowers the contrast of an outfit, which suits low-contrast coloring. It works best with soft white, dove grey and soft navy, and it sits well next to soft cool pink and lavender.

Retail calls it sky, mist, chambray, fog blue, steel blue and dusty blue. STAUD's Sky has landed on it. Chambray and washed denim are often this color by accident, which makes shirts the easy place to find it. The version to avoid has green in it and reads as teal-grey; that belongs to Soft Summer.

Easily confused with

The nearest colors are True Summer's cool grey at ten points and its dusty blue at eleven, then the Summers' shared periwinkle and Soft Summer's dusty lavender at twelve. Light Summer's own powder blue and cool sky blue are about thirteen points off and clearer. Nothing here is under ten points, so there is no exact twin, but every close color is a Summer. All three Summers can wear it; on a Soft Summer it reads a shade light.

The nearest named colors in other seasons, by perceptual distance (ΔE in CIELAB; under 10 is hard to tell apart on a screen, over 25 is a different color).

In stock in this color today

As of November 11, 2026, 9 in-stock pieces across Marine Layer, Boden, STAUD and Frank & Eileen sample within a close match of #8FA6BC. The dot on each card is the color we sampled from the garment itself; trust it over the photograph. Links are affiliate links: we earn a commission when you buy through them, at no cost to you.

Montecito Sweater

Coast

$398 at Frank & Eileen

Marta Merino Wool Crew Sweater

Blue Aura

$180 at Boden

Josette Suede Shirt

Sky

$1295 at STAUD

Supersoft Slash Neck T-Shirt

Blue Aura

$45 at Boden

Women's Luxe Jersey Crew Tee in Coastal Blue

Coastal Blue

$58 at Marine Layer

Gus Suede Pant

Sky

$1295 at STAUD

Cloud 9 Fleece Mock Neck

Winter Sky

$108 at Marine Layer

Luxe Sueded Tee

Coastal Blue

$58 at Marine Layer

Cloud 9 Terry Sweatshirt

Coastal Blue

$85 at Marine Layer

What it's sold as

Retailers almost never use the palette name. These are the color names on the in-stock pieces that sample within a close match of #8FA6BC today, so they are the words to search for.

Marine Layer

Coastal Blue, Winter Sky

Boden

Blue Aura

STAUD

Sky

Frank & Eileen

Coast

A retailer's name for a color says nothing about its undertone. "Navy" at one shop is a True Winter color and at another a Spring one. The sampled dot on each card above is what we trust.

Questions

The Light Summer guide · All in-stock Light Summer pieces · ← Periwinkle · Cool sky blue → · All colors