Why a drab monochrome world?

[Mouse]

So take a look at the colour of the cars passing on an average UK street or motor way. What colours are you seeing? Black, White, silver, grey, may be silver with a hint of black......Where have all the colours gone?

One reason is resale value, a non colour car offends nobody so is easier to sell. Are we humans that boring? Henry Ford famously stated about his model T “Any colour the customer wants, as long as it's black.” This was to reduce cost. Tesla is the same with the colour white, for similar reasons.

The interior of houses I work in across London are all the same palate of cream, off-white, brown, fawn, beige, mist, elephant breath...... Why have we all got so boring? Where has the colour in our lives gone?

Interesting, most of the interior designers I work with are female, so it is a human drabness, not just us men.

I for one, intend to make a new working skirt with more colour. Not sure what I am going to do with my black car......

[Myopic Bookworm]

My previous car was grey. When we were buying it, I said "any colour except grey", but that was the one with the suitable spec that they had ready to go.

Now I mainly drive a bright green one. I didn't choose the colour - I bought it from my Mum - but it's very handy when you're looking for it in the car park.

[Fred in Skirts]

So take a look at the colour of the cars passing on an average UK street or motor way. What colours are you seeing? Black, White, silver, grey, may be silver with a hint of black......Where have all the colours gone?
---------------SNIPPY------------
I for one, intend to make a new working skirt with more colour. Not sure what I am going to do with my black car......

Have it painted purple with orange polka dots.

[Mouse]

Have it painted purple with orange polka dots.

Close!!!....I made a kilt in lockdown that is purple with yellow in the inner folds of each pleat. This is me wearing it in Cambridge on my way to get a COVID jab in summer 2021. I will try for orange next time.

Mouse at Play
Location - Grafton Shopping Centre, Cambridge, UK, June 2021

[yardstick]

So take a look at the colour of the cars passing on an average UK street or motor way. What colours are you seeing? Black, White, silver, grey, may be silver with a hint of black......Where have all the colours gone?


Why have we all got so boring? Where has the colour in our lives gone?

It seems nobody wants to stand out from the crowd anymore, they all want to just blend in and not be noticed. This seems to extend to everything making for a very mundane world.
Around the time the Harry Potter films came out I drove a Ford Anglia as my daily transport, which as you can guess attracted the attention of every young child wherever I went (still does to an extent). I gave some colleagues a lift occasionally and whilst some were amazed at the attention received, others wanted to hide and felt very uncomfortable waving to strangers. Personally I have always felt that a smile and a cheery wave in the right place makes peoples day.
The lack of colour everywhere makes for a very depressing outlook, maybe its time for us all to put some colour back in our lives, it might make the world a happier place.

[crfriend]

The lack of colour everywhere makes for a very depressing outlook, maybe its time for us all to put some colour back in our lives, it might make the world a happier place.

By the gods, YES! Please bring back colour and style to the world.

The Belle Epoch may be long gone, but the occasional memory is something to be cherished!

[Grok]

The lack of colour everywhere makes for a very depressing outlook, maybe its time for us all to put some colour back in our lives, it might make the world a happier place.

One place to start-bright, vivid skirts

[Seb]

I've had three drab cars and three colorful ones, a purple bmw, a red audi, black merc, white volvo then a black Hyundai and finally my current blue metallic Hyundai.
I was never bothered by what colour it had, as long as it worked and was cheap and did what I needed it to do. But then again that went with my clothes too.
This last one I have had for 5 years now and I have come to like the blue color of it and its given the choice the next car will also be colorful.

As for clothes, I'm still working on it. I don't really like the extra attention.

[JohnH]

Drab, earth tone colours on vehicles blend in with roads. That's not what you want. Bight colours are much easier to see.

John

[denimini]

I am amazed how many black vehicles there are on the road, even in my hot arid area. Anyway black is not really a colour as it reflects almost nothing.
Most of my vehicles are white, which is the full visible colour range reflected together including the non visible heat spectrum, which keeps them cooler than other finishes including silver. I don't mind a beige/ochre paint finish because it does not show the dust or mud so much.

dust-094669.jpg

[Kirbstone]

On this Emerald Isle, because of the predominant dull drizzly weather in all seasons, the default colour is grey. Amazingly most people here buy grey or silver cars, but fortunately almost everyone drives with dipped headlights on all the time, everything to do with being seen. There are of course the idiots who drive around unlit and their vehicles merge into the background. In a line of approaching vehicles with what looks like a gap, sure as hell there's an unlit one in there almost invisible.

MOH drives a white camper, always very visible, but she uses her dips just the same. Swedesteeds like mine have been lit underway for years now. Bright colours are the devil to keep clean, so I avoid them.

Tom

[Ray]

I agree with the sentiment of this post. Drab colours suck.

I have never owned a black, white, silver or grey car - and I never will.

I’ll also never again have a black interior.

Current car is a metallic blue BMW 540i, cream leather. The other (family) car is a metallic red Volvo XC60, again cream leather.

Also - no black wheels. I’ll kill myself before I descend to such horror!

[Dust]

I drive a black vehicle these days. I bought it used, and did NOT want black, but I was looking for something rather specific as far as other specs went, and was buying used. I could have driven farther and paid more to get the same vehicle in white or grey with higher mileage. I settled for black. It's grown on me, as a black vehicle can look really good right after a wash, but I don't think I'll seek out a black vehicle in the future.

And all the vehicles I've owned have been rather drab. Black, white, grey, and the one slight exception of navy blue. All because they were bought used, and that's what was available. I'd love to get a yellow, green, or burnt orange vehicle, but it just hasn't worked out. They aren't available. A friend of mine bought a new Toyota many years ago, and said he would have had to wait, and pay extra, to get a color other than white.

I feel like people want more color, but not enough to jump through hoops and spend extra money to get it. There might also be a desire not to stand out, maybe because they are worried about attracting the attention of cops or thieves. It really reminds me of the whole skirt issue. Guys want more options, but don't want to be the one pushing the envelope, paying extra for a male-marketed item, or standing out and attracting potentially negative attention.

Even most of the women I work with don't dress to stand out, they dress to fit in or be comfortable. Some will wear interesting shoes, or the occasional neutral colored skirt or dress, but there's only one woman I regularly see in bright colors. So I agree, it's likely a human problem, not a male problem.