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Where has color gone in the Western world?

The Western world has gotten rid of colors.


If we look outside our house and back inside and count how many colors do we actually see?

In Architecture, Fashion and Design color has mostly disappeared.

Therefore only a handful colors are available in its majesty:

  • Black

  • Gray

  • White

  • Beige

Credits: Google images


If we glimpse back we will notice that most of our grand parents had colorful homes with the oh! famous red, green, orange and blue bedrooms.



So the question is : "Where has color gone in the Western world?"


Nowadays the color palette has changed from vivid and bright colors in the 70's and 80's to neutral and pastel tones.


When you look at the Fashion industry, the majority of the designers are dressed in black starting with Coco Chanel or Karl Lagerfield being the most notorious for wearing black on a permanent basi, even Jean-Paul Gaultier distinguished for wearing the "marinière" wears now black on Fashion runways.



After the aftermaths of WWI, black was the most mainstream color reflecting how people felt after such a devastating war. Black became the symbol of Elegance, and sobriety in society embodied by the famous "Petite Robe Noire" de Coco Chanel.


Credits: Google images


The WWII was different and the population wanted joy and a form of rebirth began with colors becoming predominant in all sectors.

From the 50's on expressing dramatic and lively colors was then all the hype until reaching climax in the 80's.


Credits: Google images


From the 90's on we see a slow downsizing of the glowing and flamboyant colors to reach in 2000 and 2010 the establishment of neutrals and monochrome.


Credits: Google images


The West has slowly forgotten the usage of color. And the less color is used in every day life (Fashion, Product Design, Architecture and Interior Design), the more a society becomes then afraid of color.


When wondering what to wear in the morning, most people will pick beige, black , gray or navy blue. That way they know they will not make a faux pas.

And this becomes a vicious circle because the less color there is around people, the less they will want to wear color or be enclosed with colors.


Paradoxically, the Western world tries in permanence to require our constant attention through media, videos, advertisement in the streets...etc

And that is done via the enormous amount of contrasting colors in application's logos, advertisements...etc


This concept is brilliantly described by David Batchelor and his book "Chromophobia" meaning "fear of color", in the Western world.





"The central argument of Chromophobia is that a chromophobic impulse - a fear of corruption or contamination through color - lurks within much Western cultural and intellectual thought. This is apparent in the many and varied attempts to purge color, either by making it the property of some foreign body - the oriental, the feminine, the infantile, the vulgar, or the pathological - or by relegating it to the realm of the superficial, the supplementary, the inessential, or the cosmetic. Chromophobia has been a cultural phenomenon since ancient Greek times; this book is concerned with forms of resistance to it. Writers have tended to look no further than the end of the nineteenth century. David Batchelor seeks to go beyond the limits of earlier studies, analyzing the motivations behind chromophobia and considering the work of writers and artists who have been prepared to look at color as a positive value. Exploring a wide range of imagery including Melville's great white whale, Huxley's reflections on mescaline, and Le Corbusier's journey to the East, Batchelor also discusses the use of color in Pop, Minimal, and more recent art."

Credits: Amazon

There has been a trajectory of rejection and one could even say hostility towards colors. This allergy to colors can be explained by a post Enlightenment movement seeking for reason, logic and rationalization.

Charles Blanc, a French Art critic in the 19th century, claimed that: "Color is secondary in Art. An art piece should be looked at for its drawing and shapes. Not color".


Renowned architect Le Corbusier railed against color claiming in 1925: " Color is suited for simple races, peasants and savages."

In 1950's/ 1960's he abandoned this perception and started to put color everywhere, for example he created "La Cité Radieuse" in Marseilles where each door has its own color and the entry halls were very colorful.

He then opposed the raw material with colors. And, he would use black, white and béton to play with the disparity of colors and bring to light all the vibrant colors.


The architects that followed him have forgotten this detail and only focus on the raw material and have restricted color all over. More recently, Jean Nouvel is another example as he favors shapes and movements with tours of neutral and impersonal color palette. Coming into the inside of buildings and the realization is the same, gray and white walls in offices, holiday residences and private houses.



This is an unusual paradox as the rest of the world has not followed this pattern.

In pure opposition, all the other continents have kept their love for colors and carried it on until our present days.


We all know the importance of colors for well being and psychological development. They are also a landmark in society and a way of communicating about ourselves to our surroundings. Colors have an important significance, and in some traditions have different meanings.


In Asia, Latin America and of course Africa colors have a particular weight in society.


From culture to culture, the meaning of colors varies. If for some, white is the color of purity, innocence, this is not necessarily the case for others cultures.

For example, white is the color of mourning in China or India. When an elderly person dies, in China, we will dress in red or pink. The reason? To show that his life was beautiful and fulfilled.


In Latin America, in Brazil, for example, purple is the color of mourning but in South Africa, red is the sign of mourning. Several African cultures (Ashanti, Tuareg, etc.) proudly wear blue during important ceremonies such as weddings or births.


When it comes to Africa, color is omnipresent in African cultures: “From masks and statuettes painted in bright colors to multicolored textiles that inspire great fashion designers, the colorful range of skin tones, clothing, the street or nature is endless, within everyday and popular African arts".


It is a relationship to colors that the western world has forgotten and cannot fully conceptualize... yet!



 

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