About this piece

We are delighted to present the second in a series of “Emails from America” contributed by Lee Lawrence, a journalist and documentary film-maker based in Washington, DC.

Email from America
by Lee Lawrence

Born in Atlanta, Georgia, Lee Lawrence became a globe-trotter and linguist at an early age. She attended French schools in Spain and Italy before returning to the USA for higher education, studying for a Bachelor's degree in Religion at Princeton University. Lee subsequently returned to Europe, working in PR in Belgium and later as a freelance journalist in Yugoslavia where her husband had a US Foreign Service posting. This was followed by a spell in India, where her husband had a further posting. In collaboration with colleague Terry Nickelson, Lee is currently producing a documentary focusing on the role of US military chaplains and examining Church-State tensions at the heart of the military chaplaincy. See www.inhisserviceandyours.com/

Color bind

Red in China, think celebration; red in Russia, think Communist. And while French and Italian brides prance in flowing white dresses, Indian widows mourn in white saris on the banks of the River Ganges. We've heard about how colors translate in different cultures, and what strikes me is not that color associations are immutable - for they are not - but that, regardless of the globalization of fashion and design, we retain any cultural preferences at all when it comes to colors and their combinations.

In an interview in 2006, former director of the Color Association of the United States, Margaret Walch, predicted to a Seattle Times reporter that we were 'going to see more color, more vivid color, more globally inspired color and more color that plays upon contrast harmonies rather than making color a more bland experience.'

Whether we consciously follow fashion or not, our culture forms our eye, and I found myself marveling that I had experienced first-hand this shift in attitude toward color. Thirty years ago in Malaysia, as I joined throngs of onlookers and devotees during a religious procession, I struck up conversation with an ethnically Chinese interior designer. His clients, he told me, were mostly foreign embassies and companies. 'Wow, that must be difficult,' I said, as gaudy red and gold decorations flashed past. 'Yes,' he said, quite seriously. 'You like colors that blend.'

Indeed. In the '70s and '80s, our notions of elegance were largely tied up with the monochromatic antiquities of Old Europe, the subtle hues of Japanese pottery, and the classic, clean lines of postmodern architecture. Just as Victorian children were expected to keep quiet, colors a century later had to blend.

Today, both are free to shout and clamor, clash and argue, emote and play. Red, once considered garish except in moderation, is now popular in American home decoration; lime green and pink have leapt off children's clothing and onto high-tech laptops and iPods; and white has long since lost its monopoly in kitchens. Black, orange, blue, brown, red... there are almost as many color choices in kitchen cabinets as are there are in M&Ms.

But bright colors have their limitations - or, rather, Americans continue to impose some on them. Before my conversation in Malaysia, I had been in Japan, where stores sold bright orange microwave ovens - a color I associated with a little girl's toy kitchen, not the latest technology. Looking around at the current offerings in the US, it seems to me that this association lingers. Yes, some cell phones and digital cameras come in plum and blue, and other hues, but they are always metallic and, as such, come across as sleek, modern, and efficient. And, yes, you can find a blue kitchen stove, but the hue is intense and royal, not pastel or robin's egg. And while cars come in just about any color, I have yet to see vibrant yellow luxury cars. A Mini-Morris, yes. A Lexus or Mercedes, no. Nor, for that matter, do the men and women streaming into Wall Street high-rises clutch aquamarine or coral-pink briefcases. Burgundy, olive, brown, black. These spell sobriety, competence, and professionalism.

But red may be gaining ground: ever wonder why so many politicians wear red ties? That's because red, in the US, conjures passion, strength, and power.

© Lee Lawrence, 2008

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