Episode 223: Fifty Shades of Beige, How the World Forgot Color, And Why Color is Coming Back
Color is emotion. Gray is a mood. This episode is a whole palette.Somewhere along the way, the world went gray. Not metaphorically — literally.Scroll through a parking lot photo from 1980 and you'll see yellows, blues, reds, a green car someone clearly loved. Scroll through a 2025 parking lot and you'll think your screen broke. It didn't. That's just… the vibe now. Black, white, and approximately 47 varieties of steel gray.In this episode of Biz-Souls, Rona Lewis and Jeffrey Hansler tackle the surprisingly rich (and surprisingly emotional) business of color. Why did the world go gray? Who decided that color was somehow beneath civilized people? (Spoiler: it was a 1908 Austrian architect who also hated fun.) And more importantly — is color finally, finally staging a comeback?The design world seems to think so. Pantone named Mocha Mousse as its 2025 Color of the Year — a warm, earthy brown bridges luxury and comfort — while Bear selected a deep ruby red and Valspar went with a rich navy blue. Design experts are also flagging rising nostalgia for 70s-inspired earth tones like terracotta and clay. Apparently, the pendulum is finally swinging — and it's swinging toward something that doesn't look like a rental car. Rona (art major, self-described color evangelist, proud owner of a steel-gray Lexus she did NOT want in steel gray) and Jeffrey (temporarily a reformed all-black wardrobe guy, partially colorblind, still has opinions) go deep on:• Why Adolf Loos — yes, a real architect with a real 1908 essay — declared that using color as decoration was a sign of arrested moral development (he was targeting Art Nouveau, one of the most beautiful art movements ever, which tells you everything)• Why California's most popular home color is basically beige wearing a disguise• What mid-century modern living rooms, orange sinks, and lava lamps tell us about where we're headed• Why color equals hope, gray stands for fear, and aubergine is always the right answer• How Pantone's Color of the Year program influences billions of dollars in buying decisions across fashion, design, and consumer goods — meaning this isn't just an aesthetic conversation, it's a business conversation Red94Mocha Mousse is warm, approachable, and undeniably chic — the sartorial equivalent of a decadent chocolate pudding. But Rona and Jeffrey aren't entirely convinced we're ready to go to the full Color Revolution just yet. Jeffrey suspects AI and utilitarian thinking might keep the grays winning. Rona is cautiously optimistic. Their conversation, as always, will have you laughing and rethinking things you didn't realize you had opinions about. Who - What – Wear! Wear your colors, it might be your civic duty.Listen now. Like. Subscribe. And for the love of Art Nouveau, color it up.
