Are neutrals dominating your color palette?
Our world is looking kind of gray. Not the trees, the grass or the sky – but the cars, the buildings, the houses, and the decor and appliances in them. Neutrals dominate – like the famous “Millennial gray.” There are a lot of reasons, both structural and cultural, why color is leaching out of some of our most important and most expensive possessions – but what do we think our colors say about us? And what role does color play in our lives today?
To get into it, Brittany is joined by Amogh Dimri, assistant editor at The Atlantic and the writer of a piece about “the color recession,” and Katy Kelleher, a writer, editor, and author of the book The Ugly History of Beautiful Things.
(00:00) What does the color recession look like?
(02:26) How American cities lost their color
(06:26) Who's really picking 'Millennial gray'?
(08:28) What color choices say about class
(13:15) Why color might be scary
(20:33) Finding the freedom to be colorful
For more episodes on tastes, design and material culture, check out:
Fashion isn't art. It's something more.
The ugly truth of America's expensive homes
The hard work of having "good taste"
Support public media with NPR+ and enjoy perks for over 25 podcasts like this one. This show’s perks include sponsor-free listening. Learn more at plus.npr.org.
See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.
NPR Privacy Policy
Our world is looking kind of gray. Not the trees, the grass or the sky – but the cars, the buildings, the houses, and the decor and appliances in them. Neutrals dominate – like the famous “Millennial gray.” There are a lot of reasons, both structural and cultural, why color is leaching out of some of our most important and most expensive possessions – but what do we think our colors say about us? And what role does color play in our lives today?
To get into it, Brittany is joined by Amogh Dimri, assistant editor at The Atlantic and the writer of a piece about “the color recession,” and Katy Kelleher, a writer, editor, and author of the book The Ugly History of Beautiful Things.
(00:00) What does the color recession look like?
(02:26) How American cities lost their color
(06:26) Who's really picking 'Millennial gray'?
(08:28) What color choices say about class
(13:15) Why color might be scary
(20:33) Finding the freedom to be colorful
For more episodes on tastes, design and material culture, check out:
Fashion isn't art. It's something more.
The ugly truth of America's expensive homes
The hard work of having "good taste"
Support public media with NPR+ and enjoy perks for over 25 podcasts like this one. This show’s perks include sponsor-free listening. Learn more at plus.npr.org.
See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.
NPR Privacy Policy