The Dull Rainbow: How Minimalism Stole the Colour from Our Culture

As I left the gym the other day to drive home, something strikingly plain caught my eye in the car park. Not a single colourful car was in sight; it was just a rainbow of grey, black, and white. I admit, I was part of this dull array with my white car blending right in. It left me counting the coloured vehicles I passed on my drive home, out of around a hundred, only seven cars stood out. When I pulled into my driveway, joining the two white cars already there, it hit me: somewhere along the way, we’ve lost the colour in our lives.

A car park filled with grey and white cars; Image courtesy of Reddit (SamuelChasan).

Now I can’t help but notice how grey the world has become. Even in small moments such as sitting to do my make-up, the thought of reaching for a bold or vibrantly coloured eyeshadow almost repulses me. How embarrassing to wear colour! I can’t imagine my eight-year-old self in 2012 ever turning down the opportunity to have glittery neon eyelids, but oh, how times have changed.

This dull rainbow is everywhere nowadays — from Kim Kardashian’s so-called “minimalist monastery” of a home to brands like McDonald’s grey, muted restaurant revamps to replace the bright red playground of Ronald McDonald’s era. Everywhere you look, colour seems to be being stripped away. It leaves us with the question, where has all the colour gone?

A revamped McDonald's exterior; Image courtesy of GettyImages.

Perhaps it began with the pandemic. As the world slowed down, so did our palettes. After years of chaos, people craved calmness, and neutral tones seemed to complement this perfectly, promising a sense of order when everything felt uncertain. On social media, this aesthetic of simplicity thrived, with white walls, oat lattes, minimalist wardrobes and “clean girl” routines dominating our feeds. Consequently, colour became loud and even cheap.

If we examine minimalism from a financial perspective, we can see that it was once about freedom, rejecting clutter and compulsive spending. In a 2017 Forbes article titled “How Minimalism Can Make You Wealthier”, Celinne Da Costa described it as a mindset of value and intention: “Approaching purchases with a critical eye has helped me evaluate just how much value (or lack thereof) a purchase contributes to our quality of life”. Minimalism then was about choosing less so you could live more. It was almost a quiet rebellion against consumerism.

Now that philosophy has been flipped on its head. Minimalism has become an aesthetic to aspire to, marked as luxury rather than liberation. Only the rich — like Kim Kardashian and her monochrome mansion — can afford the pristine perfection of beige interiors and neutral wardrobes. What once symbolised financial mindfulness is now another way to spend more money. Minimalism hasn’t freed us from consumerism like it had once intended to; it’s just given us a pricey, dull rainbow.

Inside Kim Kardashian's "minimal monastery"; Images courtesy of Page Six.

Yet amid all this beige uniformity, some brands have managed to find marketable colour within the monotony. Adidas, for instance, has revived its classic shoes through bold new colourways. From a pink and green Samba sneaker to a yellow and purple Spezial trainer, these shoes have been dominating pavements for the last couple of years. In a rainbow of muted tones, Adidas’s strategy is remarkably clever. They’ve tapped into a market that’s becoming increasingly rare, and that is the market for colour. However, their success also raises an interesting question: would these vibrant trainers hold the same appeal if minimalism weren’t so popular? It’s their contrast with many people’s neutral wardrobes that makes them desirable. Against the backdrop of the dull rainbow, they stand out all the more brightly.

Shop shelf stocked with colourful adidas trainers; Image courtesy of Financial Times.

So maybe the world isn’t entirely colourless but just more selective about when to show its hues. It’s ironic, really, that I’m writing this for The Culture Edit, a site I have designed in stark black and white with bold splashes of colour in titles. I’m as much a participant in the dull rainbow as anyone else, and maybe that’s the real power of minimalism. Even when we critique it, we can’t help but live within it.