Are we in a 'color recession'? : It's Been a Minute

Are we in a 'color recession'? : It's Been a Minute 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 .

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 . It's Been a Minute NPR September 21, 2026 3:00 AM ET By , , Are we in a color recession?

Download Embed < iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/nx-s1-5968667/nx-s1-mx-5968667-1" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player"> Are we afraid of color? Getty Images/kulagina/Photo Illustration by NPR hide caption toggle caption Getty Images/kulagina/Photo Illustration by NPR 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 . 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 .

This episode was produced by Liam McBain. It was edited by Neena Pathak. We had engineering support from David Greenburg.

Our Supervising Producer is Cher Vincent. Our Executive Producer is Barton Girdwood. Our VP of Programming is Yolanda Sangweni.

NPR does not offer or accept money for coverage or interviews. Anyone who makes such an offer or request is not an NPR employee and does not represent NPR.

Source: NPR