The increasingly colorless world
Here’s part of an essay Christopher Cook wrote yesterday:
I occasionally point this out to my wife as we’re driving along. Why have car colors become soooooooo boring?
The rest of the essay explores ideas about what the reasons might be, and why it also is true in architecture and clothing.
But you heard it here first: fourteen years ago, to be exact. The following was the entire 2011 post of mine on the subject:
Whatever happened to car colors?
It seems these days that gray’s the thing, in every possible shade and tone: silver, metallic, charcoal, light, dark, middling, and every type of gray in between. Much more gray than I care to look at.
I ask you: whose decree is this, and why?
The comments there are quite interesting as well.
But here’s an update: it’s only gotten worse. And yes, clothing is involved too. I know many people – and we’re talking women here, not men in gray flannel suits – who only wear neutrals like black and beige. My closet is very colorful, but maybe that marks me as a dinosaur, fashion-wise.
But perhaps the worst offender in recent years has been interior decoration. For quite a while everything was gray – except for kitchens, which were white. I used to sometimes put a house remodeling channel on TV while I was working, as a sort of background babble, and it featured young couple after young couple looking at perfectly lovely kitchens and saying they of course had to be totally remodeled, with everything white except for silver appliances.
I know some of it has to do with the idea of resale value, and that blandness is inoffensive to most people. Well, it’s pretty offensive to me.
I’ve been looking for a new couch. My old one is uncomfortable (and when I write “old” I mean about 25 years old) and it wasn’t much to begin with. It is a pretty color green, though, and that’s what I want for my new one, too. It can be done, because fortunately there are usually many fabrics from which to choose.
But the salesroom of the store I entered? Everything was beige or gray. And I mean everything. It was uncanny and unsettling, and I even mentioned it to one of the salespeople. She said they were going to be getting a new decorator and more color. Perhaps a trend? If so, it’s one I’d welcome.
I bought my car because it was brown, actually Autumn Shimmer or something undescriptive like that. White, black, grey. We went to buy a new car and those were the ONLY options for the VW we wanted to purchase.
There’s a subdivision nearby. From $600k and up. Everything is gray. The post-war subdivision in which I grew up–moved there in 1955–is, today ,more colorful and was then.
If I forget where I parked at the supermarket, the number of silver-gray SUV is a serious annoyance. Have to “beep” with my keys, which is embarrassing. But I’m not the only one.
I drive a white van, but the color is dictated by my biannual or more trips to the Mojave desert. Anything else would get hotter. Otherwise, I’d prefer something in a pretty blue or green.
Richard Aubrey:
I do not understand this gray craze.
Our Insect Overlords only see shades of grey ( 50 ish).
We have two RED vehicles. 2014 Jeep Cherokee, and 2016 Chrysler 300. Red is my favorite color. When I was in the working world, I wore a variety of colors of shirts – Reds, Blues, Greens, Yellows, no white. My ties were very colorful too, flowers and such.
A link to Our Insect Overlords:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=W4jWAwUb63c
Although they appear colorful, brownish.
I only buy white cars and trucks. Black and white paints are the most durable but white looks better dirty than black does and driving in western WA, I have observed that white is the most visible under almost all conditions (except blowing snow of course). Silver in fog with no lights is stealth mode.
I agree about car colors.
Even when you do see something other than gray or a shade thereof, it’s usually a subdued color.
I haven’t bought a new car in…oh…30 years? More? Anyway, when buying used, you have to buy what’s available, so our cars have been less than “colorful” for a while now too. It’s pretty rare to find a used car that has the right combination of features, mechanical condition and mileage and be able to be picky about tertiary things like colors as well. So my truck is white (prior fleet truck) and my wife’s car is dull red with the emphasis on dull (technically it’s maroon, but you get the idea).
I remember when car colors used to be prefaced by “candy apple” and “grabber” and “hugger”, which always meant it was going to be bright and shiny, whether it was Grabber Orange, or Candy Apple Red or Hugger Blue…what happened to those days?
My dad’s favorite color was green. When I was a teenager he had a 1968 Chevy Impala that he painted himself. We called it Indiana Camouflage because if you parked that car in the middle of a cornfield in June, you wouldn’t find it again until fall.
We won’t discuss what happened to that car except to say that I was involved in its demise.
It’s been going on for a while, at least in some respects in some places. Somewhere between 10 and 15 years ago I visited someone in California, the SiliValley area. We went grocery shopping at Whole Foods or something like it. After fifteen minutes or so I began to notice that there was something sort of dull and almost dreary about the atmosphere. Then it dawned on me that *everybody* in the place was dressed in black and/or gray. Maybe a little brown or beige here and there. Really, I’m not exaggerating–once it dawned on me, I consciously looked, and I couldn’t spot anybody wearing a bright color. (No idea what I was wearing.)
I saw a Tesla truck the other day whose color changed according to the viewer angle. Watched it turn a corner and it literally changed as it was making the corner.
We bought our Hyundai Palisade last year and we’re very happy with the burgundy color. First response from our 30 something daughters was that the color was an old people’s color.
New housing around here has had subdivisions full of boxy large houses with white siding and black trim. They all look the same.
I think part of it was moving auto production out of the US. My dad was able to order a car with the color and options he wanted; had to wait six or eight weeks for it. Some dealers would get cars in bright colors, but there was a risk they’d sit on the lot until just the right customer showed up. But with production moved out if the country, you couldn’t order the car you want anymore.
Then there’s that cost angle about sitting too long. So manufacturers started painting in colors bland enough that most customers would say “Meh, good enough,” thus avoiding the risk of cars sitting too long.
I’d be willing to order the color I want, and wait for it, even at extra cost.
I much dislike the current trend of flat, drab colors on vehicles. I drive a red Tesla to do Uber, deliberately. Customers like its ability to stand out and be spotted.
All the driverless Waymo cars here are white. The summer sun can turn a black car sizzling hot.
I hate white cars or vehicles. I’m not sure why, although boring is a factor. I do like silver gray for cars. I’ve owned four of those. One was a nice shade of gray-green with a pearlescent sheen or depth to it. Those tend to blend with a little dirt nicely.
I owned a little Honda Fit for many years until recently. I bought that new in a bright blue. It reminded me of a giant peanut M&M. Friends commented on it. “Look at all that color parked in the midst of nothing but boring colors.
My other current sporty car is a midnight blue. It looks really nice on a sunny day with its big dark gray alloy wheels. A snowflake style wheel. But dirt definitely sticks out on it.
I’ve had cars with colors like, a lighter shade of maroon, and a light yellow bordering on beige “Sahara beige” officially.
I’ve bought a number of shirts, as a newer widower. I like navy blue (boring I suppose), but I’ve got a couple brightly colored shirts. One that’s half linen with varying widths of stripes, in Madras style colors. Another medium blue with almost white pin stripes. I generally don’t like wearing clothes that shout, “Hey, look at me!”
How not to be seen – Monty Python
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=C-M2hs3sXGo
A satire on the harsh military reality, that if you can be seen, you can be targeted, and if targeted, you can be ki… (aargh)
So is wearing stripes and plaids a form of dazzle camoflage?
I’m not at all happy with the current prison chic look. When we needed a couch, I sat in literally every couch at Ikea and chose a sturdy comfortable one with a cream slipcover. I then went to Etsy and purchased a colorful velvety slipcover for it. Because Ikea furniture is in standard sizes there are quite a few companies making slipcovers for them. I’ve had it for a little over 2 years and am very happy with it.
IKEA Billy bookcase 31.5”x11”x79.5” in birch effect was $89 under Obama, $79 under Trump 1, $89 then $99 then $109 then $119 under Bribem, now back down to $79 under Trump 2. Part of that Bribem cost was due to Russian birch sanctions I believe.
I agree with y’all about the current fashion code: I’m a little weary of the “industrial grey, factory black, big square boxes” all the time look myself. Maybe it’s a reaction to the rainbow colors of the 60s, organic colors of the 70s, and the bright graphics of the 80s. It used to be that everybody wanted to let their freak flag fly: now it seems like everyone wants to go undercover on a spy mission.
Except for hair, that is. So many folks seem to have pink or blue hair: it’s like everyone said “All right: no colors except for hair!”
CROWD: WE ARE ALL INDIVIDUALS!
Little Old Man: I’m not.
—“Monty Python’s Life Of Brian”
Neo.
It strikes me that there can’t be a “craze” for gray. Something else, maybe.
I recall some decades back the “dog vomit tie”. Not even bad paisley. Asked a salesman at a men’s store for a regimental-stripe type of tie. Didn’t have any. Why not? Not selling. Wonder if there was a connection actually going the other way.
If the realtor shows you a couple of homes you really like in an area you like for a price you like…and it’s gray. Maybe you think you’ll think about a complete repainting…some other time. Probably can’t do much about the outside.
Always liked the New England home of white with the green-green shutters.
I’m partial to two tones or trim. Most satisfactory modal color would be cream followed by forest green followed by dark blues. With cream, you can use dark red as trim. If you want to use green trim, you might be advised to favor a light yellow.
Interior design should have a bias in favor of wallpaper and wood paneling. Trim should be stained wood, cream, dark red, or dark green. Satisfactory designs for wallpaper include maritime themes, housewares, still life, antique print themes. If you have painted walls or paneling, artwork with maritime themes, still life, street scenes, &c.
I was admiring a blue car for its visibility just yesterday. Might not stand out so much in the dawn light, but it tempted me to be more venturesome if I have another occasion to buy a car.
I recently bought a newer RX350. I had several selection criteria, color being one of them. The new car couldn’t be Black, White or Grey. No way, deal killer. I bought a Red with metallic sparkles. When clean it literally sparkles.
Many years ago my wife and I lived in Highlands Ranch, CO (southern suburb of Denver). When introduced to new neighbors my wife would ask “Did you buy the grey one or the tan one?” Highlands Ranch has brutal HOA requirements…
I know some of it has to do with the idea of resale value, and that blandness is inoffensive to most people. Well, it’s pretty offensive to me.
When my brother and his wife put their DC suburb house up for sale, they found out that its fancy wallpaper didn’t help it get sold. My brother painted all the wallpaper a bland whitish color. As there was a downturn in the housing market, it still took a year to sell, even after the bland paint job.
When I saw a friend’s silver-colored compact in the 1970s, I decided that was the car color I liked the most. Through the decades, the used cars I owned were never silver-colored. Color was irrelevant in the choice. Three years ago, I finally bought a silver-colored car. Again, color was irrelevant. Turned out to be a poor choice, but the fault was mine. I didn’t bother to bring my obd2 scan tool to check the car out. Had I done so, I would never have bought it. My bad. But at least I like the car’s silver color. 🙂
Regarding the increase in neutral colors in clothing, I am bucking the trend, albeit from inertia. I am currently wearing a hippie-ish colorful Guatemalan shirt, a shirt I purchased decades ago. Bucking the trend because I am a geezer with a full closet, so I wear shirts I purchased long ago–even decades ago. I still have an electric blue shirt my grandmother gave me 55 years ago.
I grew up in a house that my father painted barn red. It has stayed that way, even today, decades after my mother sold it. I didn’t always like the wallpaper in our house–my bedroom had a wallpaper with flowers and a horrible brown-gray(?) background. But the wall panels and kitchen cabinets that my father built from unfinished lumber were to die for.
My friend’s daughter is building a small house for her mother. Mother-in-law house, as it were–only 800 square feet or so. She got some painting contractors to bid on painting the inside. Bids were between $15 and $20 thousand, so they were quoting current market price. From my experience in painting inside, I estimate that one person could paint the inside of an 800 square foot house in a day or two. I recall it taking about three hours to paint a room. Maybe my memory is hazy—I don’t recall if I had painted the ceilings.
My experience w contractors is that generally they double the price over what labor costs–half for the contractor and half for labor. Such as when I got bids for kitchen cabinets: comparing buying cabinets yourself and paying for installation, compared to having one contractor build and install the cabinets.
The solution is to have a paint party w barbecue at the end. I will help.
As to cars, there may be a theory that bland colors make the car less noticeable to either police or car thieves. Don’t know why that would apply to walls or furniture.
y81:
I once read somewhere that bright cars are less likely to be in accidents because they are more easily seen.
Tommy Jay:
A friend once had a yellow-gold car of a color named “Freudian gilt.”
Metallic paints are the softest and most easily chipped. I buy new, take care of them and drive them for 20 years and then give them away. The first new car I bought was a Tahiti Blue Triumph Spitfire. What a chick magnet that car was.
https://cdn.dealeraccelerate.com/ideal/1/282/11295/1920×1440/1980-triumph-spitfire
The other day in a parking lot I glanced down the line of cars at an angle. I saw a white Japanese car with license plate starting PZ. Yep, that’s mine.
Walked over and tried to pull the back door open so I could put my knapsack away. The real owner came over. “Uh, can I help you?”
There are a lot of white Japanese sedans in New Mexico.
My color for a car would be British Racing Green. Used to see Miatas in that color- thought them lovely.
Topic reminds me:
–Chicago, “Colour My World / Make Me Smile – 7/21/1970 – Tanglewood (Official)”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pKvNoC0SRoY
Those first two Chicago albums were incredible. Fun to watch them play too.
It was a colourful time.
Ha! Freudian gilt! Did the friend have a psych major education too, or was it an accidental thing?
Tommy Jay:
I don’t remember her major, but she was from Brazil.
Although not Ipanema.
Re: Gilt
Roger Zelazny, sci-fi and fantasy writer extraordinaire, made a gilt joke in one of his Amber books which stuck with me.
Corwin and Random are Princes of Amber, allied in pursuit of the throne of Amber. Corwin has been attacked and injured, but advises Random not to mention it to the others. Random is, among other things, a poker player.
____________________________
Random: As you say. Silence beats a chamber pot in Amber.
Corwin: How’s that?
Random: ‘Tis gilt, m’lord, like a royal flush.
____________________________
Maybe you had to be there.
A pair of red jeans I ordered were just delivered today. If I were going to order a car it would be blue or red. I had a gray Ford Escape for 5 years and I referred to it as “Soviet Gray” as it was just one of the multitudinous gray SUV’s on the road or in the parking lot. I replaced it with a used Lexus RX350…atomic silver, just another shade of gray! We make a lot of 6 hour drives between Northern and Southern California. We play the rainbow game with the grands–2 people in the car have to spot a blue, green, red, orange, yellow, purple and pink car. Standouts in the sea of gray.
My F-150 is Fire Engine Red. I recently saw a Chevy Colorado in Crash Truck Yellow, that was a very handsome truck.
First off, I do NOT mind the demise of lime-green shag carpet (a rental house, thank goodness) or the fluctuating fad for avocado green & harvest gold (although not unattractive, just ubiquitous at one time). That gave way to “neutrals” like cream, wheat, and beige, with “color accents” from the furniture and décor, for the often stated reasons: resale, resale, resale.
However, the trend to gray cars does seem ominous. I’ve noticed that because our 2012 Ford Expedition used to get lost in the sea of greys that are urban parking lots (like huxley’s white sedan).
I say that in the past tense because, for our Wyoming summer forays, we attached a roll-out awning to the roof, which can be spotted from a distance.
We do still lose his brownish-gold Toyota truck because there are more of them in Colorado than there are grey cars. To be fair, there are also a lot of glitzy car colors on the road in the Denver Metro as well, and they are always fun to see.
When the boys were in school, we had an 8-seater Suburban, of a popular bland color that I don’t even recall now. After a small accident, we decided to repaint the whole thing, and chose a nice mid-range blue from the color chips in the book. However, in the daylight outside the office, it turned out to be a bright turquoise.
We never lost it in a parking lot after that.
The car-colors meme in Cook’s post has been showing up on other sites as well.
https://substack.com/@theirrationalsage/note/c-106581647
@ Neo > “clothing is involved too”
Cook also linked to a hilarious Wendy’s commercial (from the same innovator as their “Where’s the beef?”) which supports his second proposed cause (socialist conformity).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5CaMUfxVJVQ
@ Kate > “New housing around here has had subdivisions full of boxy large houses with white siding and black trim.”
I think that’s just now starting in our area. We had several big subdivisions go up near us lately, and they look like someone’s idea of a minimum-security prison, only without the fences. Any shade you want as long as it’s grey or tan.
However, just last month, a flipper bought the house across from us and painted the siding white and the brick black. It may be trendy, but it is totally out of character with the rest of our somewhat elderly neighborhood.
I think I will get a pink plastic flamingo for my front yard.
@ Gringo > “Bucking the trend because I am a geezer with a full closet, so I wear shirts I purchased long ago–even decades ago. I still have an electric blue shirt my grandmother gave me 55 years ago”
Oh, thank goodness!
I thought it was just me!
However, the electric blue shirt we have was one that AesopSpouse inherited from his grandfather. Pendleton wool, not to be discarded lightly.
Ask commentators “Cicero” and “art deco”…they are the embodiment of banal, nondescript, and bland.
My name is Jeff, and I bought a metallic gray car. (2019 Porsche Cayman).
Several reasons: The base colors were flat blue, red or yellow. None rang a bell. I wanted metallic British Racing Green, but that was a $2300 option. Other colors were even more expensive.
And I bought the car because I like it, not to get noticed.
Finally, and most importantly, there is no car color that hides dirt better.
A couple years later, my wife bought a car in sunset orange metallic (which is relatively common across car brands). Gender matters.
Ask commentators “Cicero” and “art deco”…they are the embodiment of banal, nondescript, and bland.
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I’ve already offered my opinions on design.
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We’re renting now, so the decor is what the landlord prefers. As for our cars, one isn’t running. The other is a dull silver hatchback that we bought because it was available within our budget and its features were satisfactory. I’d rather we had something I fit into more readily and I’d rather have a vehicle that did not (like all the others) look like a running shoe, but that’s life.
Gray (ish) cars on a gray morning along a road shaded by trees….
Yes, neo. Better be bright colors.
This essay and the comments astonish me. I don’t what world these people are living in. Have you seen recent vehicles from Ford and Chevrolet. The reds and blues are incredible. I am really not a car guy, my Ford Expedition can only be described as drab brown. I like it that way. When I ask a farmer for permission to hunt his property I don’t want to appear to be flashy, pretentious or, especially, intimidating. I like dull boring colors. But that’s just me.
But lately I see the most gorgeous, deep, reflective reds, blues and coppers imaginable. Ford and Chevrolet have really figured out paint colors. I am in awe.
That said, I also see a lot of vehicle with opaque, flat finishes that I wouldn’t use for my dog’s house. This is recent. I see quite a few vehicles with this type of finish. It looks like the vehicle was dipped in plastic. Beats me, but to each his own….