Look around. From architecture to design, past cars, technological tools, art and fashion, it’s the realm of all-purpose tones.
Soothing some would say, boring others would say. One thing is for sure, when bursts of color sometimes rip through that canvas of neutrality, they’re no longer the norm. In 2020, a UK study by Science Museum Group Digital Lab analyzed more than 7,000 photographs of objects in 21 categories over more than 200 years. Conclusion: The gray has not stopped rising. Together with black and white, these tones make up 50% of our daily life in the West today, while they made up only 15% of colors in the 1800s. The only break: the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s, which primarily rehabilitated light tones in fashion and interior design.
If you are over 40 then you have experienced a brighter world!
The age of pragmatism
How many of us can boast of owning a car or walls of color? Statistically a handful. “This applies in particular to the automotive industry. In 1952, three out of four cars were red, green or blue, while today three out of four cars are grey, white or black, anywhere in the world,” says Jean-Gabriel Causse, designer, specialist in the influence of colors and author of numerous works on the subject, including Invisible Colors and The Amazing Power of Colors. He adds that the observation is the same in architecture and design, especially in the home, where white remains the canvas par excellence. From a practical point of view, the phenomenon is easy to explain: renting out an apartment painted apple green or reselling a car yellow as a chicken is more difficult because the color is often associated with a desire, an energy or a fashion; in short, the opposite of timeless and durable. This last criterion also guides the approach of Daniel Corbin, designer and founder of the company D-Cor: “I am in favor of ecological design, which pushes me to make lasting choices. The material is often my basis; That’s why I use a lot of white because it contains all the colors and brings out the different shades of stone, concrete, steel, leather and wood.” Does he notice a difference in the choice of interior colors?
“Absolutely. Bright colors have declined very sharply in 20 years, although they can still be found as accents on decorative accessories. And outside it’s very rare.
In fact, especially in America and Northern Europe, color on facades and on the streets is almost non-existent.
A vital need
Are we talking about the impersonal corporate offices that define many of us? And technological tools (TVs, phones, computers, speakers, etc.), mostly black, ubiquitous in our daily lives? The coloring has also changed in the cinema. The arrival of digital and HD has impacted image processing, which is now darker. Does this uniformity have a long-term psychological effect? “Scientists have proven it, says Mr. Causse: people need color in their environment. we are animals We have evolved within a nature of changing colors. It wasn’t that long ago that we were trapped between four walls! A good reason to add a dose of color to the latter, when in fact the most popular shades in Quebec are currently “greys, greys, earth tones for the warmer colors and always staying in the delicacy and control”, points out Daniel Corbin.
The benefits of color
The time is not exaggerated. Our living places have become cocoons. Perhaps because a bold color is often perceived as an added visual stimulus in a world that already bombards us with (too) much information. When you come home you want to pick up! And many of us think that it works better in a “beige” environment when, purely physiologically speaking, it works more or less.
“When you look at a solid color, explains Mr. Causse, the brain is activated. Each color stimulates a different area. Green balances, blue calms by lowering blood pressure, and pink stimulates 95% of the areas occupied when looking at happy images. Looking at pink feels really good! On the other hand, nothing happens with white, beige or ecru. In other words, the brain is turned off.
Rejected
Is the color creepy? Because it attracts (or distracts) attention, it’s sometimes called frivolous or decadent. In art, certain Western theorists cloak it in a pejorative connotation. English sculptor and visual artist David Batchelor coined the term “chromophobia”. In his eponymous essay, he examines the reasons that have led part of the world to perceive color as the antithesis of ennobling.
And what about fashion? Here, too, the color remains fantasy. Some designers rarely use it, preferring neutral tones or the timeless black.
As a reminder, black was long considered the color of mourning and changed its image at the end of the 19th century, thanks largely to King Edward VII of England. We owe him the popularization of the tuxedo, which was originally created to cover clothes and protect them from the smell of cigars. Initially midnight blue, it became black, the color that the future king preferred to wear to social occasions, which immediately sparked enthusiasm and catapulted both the outfit and the hue into the rank of a symbol of elegance. Black again became a symbol of mourning in the post-war period, then “Coco Chanel launched her little black dress in 1926, Jean-Gabriel Causse points out, and all the French designers jumped at it and then dwelt more on the forms of work and cuts. There was the colorful and boisterous fashion of the 1980s, but neutral tones took over from the 1990s. From a practical standpoint, it allows retailers to more easily dispose of their unsold inventory from one season to the next. If, for example, fuchsia hits the shelves of stores this winter, it is certain that sales of a light pink coat cannot be compared with those of the same model in black.
The big return?
However, Jean-Gabriel Causse believes in the return of color, particularly as formal work wear is fading in favor of freer casual wear. He also observes that the southern United States is in the process of recoloring, with California at the forefront under the influence of Silicon Valley. Daniel Corbin, who hosts the show Vendre ou rénover au Québec, which airs on Noovo – and whose morphs are its specialty – reminds us of the power of bright colors to enhance small spaces: “Color makes a room appear brighter or bigger! What if we decided that 2023 would be the year that we would make our daily lives look better? The next time you hesitate between two coats, choose the one that’s good for everyone!