“Sometimes we need the fog to remind ourselves that all life is not black and white.” Jonathan Lockwood Huie
GRAY COLOR TREND
PSYCHOLOGY & FACTS
For the last month of this most unprecedented year of all time, we decided to select the most neutral and uncertain color we may have-warm gray to take us into this new year with softness and warmth.
The color gray color is subdued, quiet and reserved. Gray is an unemotional color – it is detached and neutral. From a color psychology perspective, gray is the color of compromise – being neither black nor white it is impartial.
The gray colors and shades represent solid strength and longevity, an association stemming from the color of granite and gravel, stone, slate and rock; of ancient monuments, pillars and temples that have withstood the ravages of time and technology.
Gray is also the color of intellect and of compromise. It’s a diplomatic color, negotiating all the distance between black and white.
In Europe and the United States, surveys show that gray is the color most commonly associated with neutrality, conformity, boredom, uncertainty, old age, indifference, and modesty.
Only one percent chose it as their favorite color.
Did you know that gray became a highly fashionable color in the 18th century, both for women’s dresses and for men’s waistcoats and coats?
At that time, women’s fashion in the 19th century was dominated by Paris, while men’s fashion was set by London. The famous gray business suit appeared in the mid-19th century exactly in London, and it was light gray in summer, dark grey in winter, replacing the more colorful palette of men’s clothing early in the century.
Also, the clothing of women working in the factories and workshops of Paris in the 19th century was usually gray .
This gave them the name of grisette “Gris” or gray also meant drunk, and the name “grisette” was also given to the lower class of Parisian prostitutes.
GRAY COLOR TREND
In Interiors
A true neutral gray is a mixture of black and white, but rarely do we see a perfect mix of black and white – it often has elements of other colors such as blue, green, pink, mauve, yellow – which can lift and energize it.
What we see are infinite shades of warm and cool grays. Warm grays have yellow or brown undertones whereas cool grays have a blue undertone.
The ubiquitous (gray and beige hybrid) “greige” is a warm gray that can look almost beige.
Light gray is thought to be soothing and calming. The closer gray gets to silver or white, the more illuminating and lively it becomes.
Light grays can carry some of the attributes of the color white, whereas dark, charcoal gray communicates some of the strength and mystery of black.